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stouffville suntribune thursday oct 2 2003 7 what if stouffville held its own fall fair im a markham fair booster always have been and always will be regardless of what some say ifs one of the finest if not the finest country exhibition of its land in ontario i know ive been to a few this rural showpiece opens today and continues through sunday if weather permits close to 100000 people will click the turnstiles ill be one while i something for everyone is an overworked cliche with markham fair it certainly applies whatever your passion i theres an event for you be it the baby contest the tractor pull the pet show the demolition derby or the midway nothings omitted you can even test your bravado at riding a bull or your finesse at playing a fiddle no ive never been a director but i have been a judge several times and while choosing the best pet and the pretti est princess have nothing in common both proved interesting arid challenging our children always found the fair intriguing those red and blue ribbons attached to miscellaneous exhibits brought them great joy it was regu larly my task to slip past security the night before and secretly spy on the results of their efforts the next morn ing- as they headed for school id break the good news what a celebration to this day susan our eldest recaus winning the 18 and younger class while whitchurch- stouffville has always been an integral part of markham fair the association drew closer in 1977 when the site was shifted from hwys 48 roaming around with jim thomas and 7 to 18th avenue now elgin mills road and mccowan road but is it close enough why cant whitchurchstouffville have a fair of its own x i broached this question to gord ratcliff wheri he was mayor back in 1978 and he not surprisingly was totally sup- portive why not i remember him saying unfortunately no one myself included took up the challenge so i repeat the question why not what prompted the query in the first place was a very suc cessful fair day organized by st mark catholic church and held in stouffville hundreds attended everyone loved it later for whatever reason the site was switched and the community atmosphere was lost previously branch 459 of the royal canadian legion host ed a trade fair at the arenathis too was tremendous with the entire floor surface filled with displays but too little commercial support took its toll it also passed out of the picture surfirig- the net i see hundreds of fall fairs listed across ontario population wise some towris are much smaller than ours even half our size regardless two maybe three days a year they muster their forces and put on a show its the same in the us but on a larger scale those fairs draw people from all across the country licence plates in parking lots tell the story from california to the garolirias from montana to alabama many shows weve visited are host ed by volunteer fire departments facilities lacking admittedly we dont have the facilities of a markham a woodbridge or an uxbridge but we do have the expertise the current markham fair president is kim empringham a local resident many pastpresidents are from the stouffville area markhams alvyays been blessed with an excellent group of junior directors the majority indicating a willingness to climb the ladder a goodly number are from stouffville the runnerup in this years fair ambassador contest is lindsay sherban a stouffville teenager its also no secret whitchurchstouffville exhibitors always bring home their fair share of awards as with all projects of this kind our fall fair would need to creep before it walks rome wasnt built in a day like with our strawberry festival success in the future is the result of suc cess in the past build on the positive would a whitchurch fair detract from markhams fair quite the opposite we could work together combining the best of both it was back in 1844 that william armstrong had a dream did he visualize a fourday event attracting 100000 people not likely but that was 159 years ago big things come from small beginnings but first we must begin jim thomas is a stouffville resident who has written for area newspapersfor more than 50 years walk the dog for charity the lions foundation of canadas walk for dog guides is oct 11 at 10 am registration is at 9 am at latcham hall in stouffville the fivekilometre walk is for people and pooches of all ages to register or to donate call 18007683030 or go to the wwwdogguidescom website 64251 1 1 durham steam cleaning 3 8526711 loose rugs br0adl00m upholstery 3m scotchquard toronto departures unless otherwise stated orlando florida howard johnson plaza resort gateway 5 nights valid until december 23 03 air and hotel run of house fun sun vacations tajfimotary tracers f o hit dfstfr world toorw mrariai crtsftfo iffil wrt ft sis sals 3r9 eat oiliibete puerto plata dominican republic cayo coco cuba casa marina beach reef resort tryp cayo coco 7 nights january i0 17 24 04 7 nights october 19 03 all inclusive 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