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3tsij- m the tribune wednesday october 6 1982 v editors mail priorities the editor if 1 i t i was dismayed by your article under the heading show restraint town limits giveaways which seemed to suggest that we as citizens of whitch- aurchstouffville should feel proud of our town council for practicing restraint by refusing to seriously consider requests for support to both the york region local childrens services committee and the united way ironically on the same page readers could note an article which reported that sidewalk repairs were ex pensive this year and would cost in the area of 15000 s these articles belong together on the front page because they highlight the choice our elected officials must make today in times of restraint it shows however a degree of shortsightedness on councils part taken the final score is sidewalks515000 children families and senior citizens0 in the current economic situation which we as canadians face the concept of restraint and shrinking service dollars is a reality for everyone schools com munity programs and families are all being asked to tighten their belts and to pull together through these times the key question for council in these times is that restraint should be measured against the quality of human life when the united way is asking for support for their many programs for children fami lies and senior citizens council should be able to balance both quality of life issues in stouffville and sidewalks the citizens of stouffville surely could forego 50 feet of sidewalk this year in order that quality of life programming for those in our own town who need such services can continue clearly council needs help in sorting out its priorities because for me its not the sidewalks alone that make stouffville the fine place it is m which to live but more importantly that stouffville is a community where people are concerned with one anothers well being i sincerely i t john ireland rupert avenue stouffville sfoe tribune andrew p cook advertts ng manager f3a g established 1888 james thomas barry w wallace editor in chief puolisher editorial oept jim holt jim irving display advertising dept rodspicer bryan armstrong classified advertisingcirculation joan marsnman office manager doreen deacon business office eileen glover national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 publishedeverywednesdayat54mamst stouffville onttel 6402101 single copies 25 subscriptions 1300 per year in canada s3500 elsewhere member of canadian community newspapers associaion ontano weekly newspapers assocation ontario press councl and suburban newspaper of america second class mail registration number 0896 the stouffville tribune is one of the metroland pnnting publishing ltd group of suburban newspapers which includes aawhitbypickenng news advemseraurora bannernewmarket erathe bolton enterpise brampton guardian the burlington post the burlington weekend post the etobicoke advertiser guardian the georgetown indpendentacton free press markham thornhill economist milton champion the mississauga news the mississauga news weekend edition the north york mirror oakville beaver oakville friday beaver oshawa this week oshawa this weekend the richmond hillthornhill liberal the scarborough mirror the woodbndge vaughan news rajkroaaaing around a thousand untold stories t v n i- j by jim thomas- 6402100 editorials theme was agriculture itll be written into the record books as the finest markham fair of all times and no one will dispute the fact the nearperfect weather played a part but not the major part many may think- certainly sunny skies and warm temperatures enticed people to attend and this was important for what goods an event- any event without people however markham fair 82 was such that it maintained peoples interest and more impor tantly it brought people back some as often as three and four times had the weather turned sour not an un common thing this time of year it seems the board was prepared many of the staged events were accommodated indoors hoping for the best but expecting the worst it worked out well regardless r the under the big top entertainment tent was an excellent idea providing addition al space outside the general exhibits building so was the foodland ontano enclosure and the central craft corral however the event that enthused us most was of all things the fairs opening ceremonies it was perfectly planned and just as perfectly performed again it was held insidethe livestock arena o all places but what better location could have been selected with the minister of agri culture the guest speaker and this was the paramount theme through outagriculture it was promoted at every turn not just to agriculturalists but to the urba- nites the unconverted with telling effect they got the message yes markham fair 82 was the kind of suc cess that will keep people talking until fair 83 and coming back to president bill wal ker the executive and directors our congra tulations the town of whitchurchstouffville its residents and this newspaper were pleased to play a part its late sunday night im endeavoring to catch up on the hours spent at markham fair with staff reporterphotographer jim holt on holidays it was necessary for jim irving and myself to cover the fair beat alone at least we felt alone with so many things going on as you can imagine its impossible for two people to provide the coverage such a show deserves nor can a single edition of this news paper realizing this and i hope you do too i want to relate a few short stories that caught my attention president bill walker has estimated the tot al fair attendance at 100000 considering fi gures of previous years i think hes low however i never did get around to counting heads seated in the audience at the fairs opening ceremonies was president walkers parents mr and mrs jim walker of markham and his brother bruce of sunderland bruce was presi dent of this years sunderland fair ken deacon president of markham fair in 1944 remains active in the shorthorn show markham fairscome through some pretty dirty years he said during a lull in the judg ing saturday he remembers 1962 when it rained so hard and so long water was flowing under the tents he recalls too how he and past- president alex davidson arranged for a jr farmers softball tournament one year and it snowed any guesses at the weight of the big bull owned by bill warnock of w r w ranch lit tle britain before placing him on display at the fair bill put him over the scales he weighed 2500 pounds guess it would hurt if he stepped on your toe commented a prim ary class pupil from a school in scarborough while on the subject of big the steiger trac tor displayed by brougham farm services lists at 120000 as a markham fair special it was priced at an even 100000 the fact so many children enjoyed climbing over the huge machine a company spokesman was heard to comment every playground should have one if youve ever wondered why cedar groves bob lapp looks so well fed the truth is out wife joyce displayed the grand champion pie at this years markham fair the make coconut cream markham museum manager john lunauis fiftytwo and hes attended fiftytwo consecu tive markham fairs eileen his mother brought him as a yearold baby back in 1930 john doesnt remember but his mother does further to this it is said that the late anson crosby attended 85 markham fairs in a row quite a record the most senior of senior citizens attending markham fair this year was edith mrs fred hamilton of markhaven she was accompa nied by helen mrs belfry hamilton of stouff ville mrs hamilton a longtime markham re sident is 99 the oldest gentleman present was joe dyer 96 of bestview health care centre hwy 7 markham harold hi lawrie of markham had in his possession at markham fair friday the pres idents lapel badge worn by his greatuncle john lawrie the year was 1900 ab boake of rr 1 cedar valley is a show committee member in the poultry and pets section of markham fair hes also the 1983 president of richmond hill fair a single and totally unexpected event attracted much attention at the fair friday jack spangs holstein gave birth to a calf in the stall at old macdonalds farm- one teacher described it as a lesson in sex education shed never forget f there were surprised looks on the faces of fair directors when they walked into the board office friday and saw a bald eagle perched on a shelf it was placed there by john welsh an employee on the staff of the metro toronto zoo the only complaint heard saturday and maybe sunday was a shortage of out houses dozens of folks mostly men sought relief in the cow palacei any port in a storm one said excluding school and livestock classes fair exhibitors this year were almost double 81 manager gerry mann said 723 to 397 how well did the thomas family do thought youd never ask for starters mary- lynn won a second for her upsidedowncake it was surpassed only by our upside-down- kitchen viewpoint- the sun makes days plowmen excel again the skill of plowing and all things related to it may sound honky to some but the fact remains whitchurchstouff villes the plowing capital of ontario for those who dont believe it or worse dont care about it a check of results at the recently concluded international match at lucan near london ont should be proof enough area participants placed in the top half of most classes with such regularity an official was prompted to enquire when does training camp open next spring year after year someone from our town it elected to represent either the province or canada at toplevel competitions in 1983 well have twoken ferguson for canada and t floyd foriyth for ontario quite an honor for them and for us while its always a thrill to win for floyd its kind of old hat hes been turning straight furrows so long its second nature to him now hes already been to the world match once for ken it still must seem like a dream- a dream come true he sprang into prominen ce from almost total obscurity when he placed second in the ontario class at barrie in 81 now by virtue of his success at lucan hell represent canada in rhodesia apart from their plowing skills the two men are excellent ambassadors for this province and for this country our imageboth at home and abroad will be maintained by both and the town of whitchurchstouffville will benefit also as it has in the past congratulations i knew there was something wrong the mi nute i left for markham fair it would have been okay i thought if i had set out first thing in the morning when the fog ivas hanging overhead dense and heavy like the economy that would have made every thing just fine but no the sun was breaking through and when i reached the gates there wasnt a cloud in the sky i had to admit i was worried there was something wrong how would they ever carry on the fair without all the rain gumbo and attendant despondency such things bring well it seems they handled it just fine even without the immediate experience of beautiful weather nobody had any trouble adjusting and the event for my part anyway was a fair to remember it wasnt that they fired off any rockets to the moon they didnt have to there was enough to catch the eye without resorting to such melodramatics whether it was just the sight of a group of children reaching out to pat a snow- white bunny or watching horses stream down the stretch to the finish tine there was the general exhibits building a wonderland of its own where steve and ron lewis of glasgow had arranged their varied assortments of garden gourds in asartisic a pattern as you or the judges would want to see and that gigantic squash displayed by bob walker of pickering weighing in at 320 pounds wow the reporter exclaims to an attendant how did he ever get it out of the ground they dont grow in the ground the atten dant answers a look of disbelief on his face you admire next without comment the prizewinning savoy cabbage entered by jim forsyth of stouffville the softballsized toma toes of another winner brad thomas of mar kham and the ingenious cake of yet another stouffville entrant lisa wetherill snoopy an elephant an armadillo a snake and many more colorful animaisare there too with their corncob bodies carrot legs and other products of the garden to pad them out all this time the sun is shining in giving the place a life it didnt have some previous years yes its probably that sun too that helps to give that lady in the corner mrs jose for josephine morgan of east york even more of an air of authenticity as she sits at her spin ning wheel in the garb of a much earlier era carding cleaning and spinning her wool which at vi a byjimirvingj 1 just a short while before was more firmly wrapped around some sheep only a few yards away j there was something for everyone at the fair and with the sun overhead to give its blessing it was sheer enjoyment to move from one building to another in a big tent down the way the police orchestra of four brings pleasant smiles to the faces of seniors and easy body- movements to the kids more happy people enjoying the day not that the fair is without its critics that shoulda been first says a youthful connois seur pointing to a poster with a fourth prize tag the entry by paula lumley of james robinson school markham bears the heading todays leading pitcher milk with a drawing of a jug instead of the dave stciblike figure you were expecting i tended to agree off in another corner a lady chases some kids off a platform while outside in the sun i ha ve my own problems munchingon a hot doe it seems my bench is top heavy when the sitters at one end leave me and my hot dog are sent flying almost landing in amearby g bagebin but what the heck how can you complain when the sun is shining so v ivsfr j