Discussions

Was anyone else disappointed with the fair this week? Took my grandkids on Wednesday - very disappointed. Only 2 rides - $15 each for 5 minutes! Bouncy castles were free - thank goodness.  
The food lines were so long, The shows in the main arena ran behind all day - we were not able to see the dog show. Suppose to start at 7: couldn't wait for it - learned that it was 8 p.m. before it started. Too late for small children.Last year the kids could pick up the bunnies - not this year. Definitely not as good as last year.

Would you like some cheese with your wine. Complain complain . Be happy we have the fair . Hard to keep things running on time. Go home and eat if you don’t want to wait in line.

I agree with you 100%! I was very disappointed. There are so many restrictions with the petting zoo now it’s not even worth going. Between having to make sure all your food and drinks are tucked away, not being able to hold the bunnies, and basically only being able to pet animals if you buy feed for them it wasn’t much fun. I took my 11 year old daughter and her friend and my two year old. It was very disappointing that there were no rides for my two year old to go on (last year there were two she was able to do). And yes, stupid expensive. And the lack of entertainment for young kids was another disappointment. The trade show was another let down. Not much to see and what was there was even more expensive than normal. The only thing we really enjoyed was the “barnyard challenge” on Tuesday night. Nice to see it back.

I was dissappointed in the lack of support for the vendor that I was helping on wednesday. After many years of being away from the business I was hoping for at least one good rush. Never happen might of had a 3 person lineup . Was so slow I went home at six. As for price my friend told me they where charging less then last year for there food.

Now I do agree that the provincial ex seems to be lacking in entertainment . That and its the same old same old every year pretty much. Maybe the time has come that they stear away from agriculture a little bit more. (Get it stear instead of steer) Couple idea if anyone that has a say in the decision is reading this. Maybe a dodgeball/ ball hockey match between local business or the fire and police departments. Or maybe a volley ball /basketball match between the university/college or high schools. Heck maybe even bring in some amatuer local ukulele/guitar groups to play a night or two.  
Well as they say next year.

I don’t like wine, thank you. In the near future they won’t have a fair, if they don’t make it affordable for families to go. I try to support local events - my grandchildren won’t be taking their kids at this rate. Like everything else, money takes over instead of giving people affordable experiences.  
Grow up!

a good post explaining her complaints about the differences she found from previous years experiences. Not sure you grasp what she is saying.

Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy yourself. My family and I sure did. There’s nothing that offers all that under one roof so I am always looking forward to its return.

To all of the posters here, if you haven’t experienced the winter fair from even 10-20 years ago or longer then you don’t know why people are getting so disappointed. The winter fair used to be far larger than it is now. For the kids, the petting zoo was so much more interactive with handling of animals and even pony rides. There was encouraged children’s participation in activities like the calf scramble and pig scramble. The amount of exhibitors that used to fill the uct and Manitoba rooms as well as hallways and the main concourse was far far more than it is now. And the amount of people showing their horses and cattle is not even comparable to now. The arena used to be filled with 4, 6, and 8 horse teams and now there is hardly a handful.  
For the poster suggesting we switch away from agriculture, that will not help anything. The cost of any of these events has gotten so unreasonable that people just aren’t participating. Even for an average family of 4, the cost of spending an entire day there is not worth it for what you get in return. And a lot of people just simply can’t afford it. Not only that, exhibitors cannot afford the fees to get a table for their business display or a barn stall for their animals.  
Eventually these events will be lost and it’s sad to see such a great community tradition die.  
We were very disappointed to see the fair get even smaller this year.

It was a fun day for us and the kids but my goodness it was expensive. Eg. $75 entrance for the family. $32 for 4 corn dogs. $20 for a plastic sword with lights that I can get on Temu for $6.

$20 for the wand….the guy selling at the doodles show was only $10  
 
Yes the show is getting smaller every guest but have you also noticed the volunteers and staff are getting older every year? Is the next generation ready to step up and fill their shoes?? If not, the fair won’t be around much longer, regardless of attendance. JMO though

Sorry…can’t edit on the app… I meant every year* not guest

Well said. I 100% agree!

Thr volunteer problem is universal right now for any organization that relies on volunteer labour to organize and run events. Long gone are the days of the stay-at-home moms who could do it when their kids are at school, or people who volunteer after they retire. Everyone works full-time now, and if you have family odds are you have your kids in extracurricular which eats up a lot of time. Boomers, as they retire, are wanting to travel, golf, and are generally not interested in stepping into those roles at this time. Also, the sense of civic responsibility has diminished considerably ("I'm doing it because it benefits my community"), espcially since Covid.  
 
That sometimes means for some events, there is a higher reliance on paid labour, which increases costs which is passed down so the organization remains sustainable and fiscally viable. With an aging volunteer base, there's also considerable sucession planning challenges, as ill health and even sudden death of key organizers becomes more likely.  
 
In short, if we enjoy having events in the city, and if you want to keep them affordable, we need to volunteer. I've been involved in volunteering* in some form or another since the 90s, and every year gets tougher to recruit.  
 
*Edit to clarify: volunteering with different organizations, not with the fair.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2025-04-06 13:27:45

A big reason a lot of the things like the pig scramble and petting zoo and other hands on things are disappearing is due to liability and animal activists saying it is animal cruelty. The pricing of spots for the vendors is also getting out of hand and more and more small farms that contribute to these events are being bought out by corporations. I do miss the pig scramble though I did that as a kid and loved it.

May be an off base unpopular opinion here. The winter fair is largely focused on horses. Horse enthusiasts represent a very small amount of people. I know older folks (seniors) like the fair, likely for nostalgic reasons. These folks are not the ones who are gonna spend any money. Young people or immigrants with no connection to agriculture or even Ag folks who aren’t into horses find the show incredibly boring. The Prov Ex has worked hard to stay to its roots but they need to adapt a bit and make it more appealing.

It’s not just for horse enthusiasts. There used to be a lot more entertainment and activities that would draw a very large crowd of people from all over. Yes, the main competitions and shows are centred around horses, but the winter fair was so much more than that.  
The problem is not that the provincial ex needs to adapt, they just simply need to make it so that it’s still affordable and appealing for people to not only attend but also to enter exhibits and shows. We cannot just keep tossing traditions by the wayside because we think immigrants or the younger crowds won’t be interested.  
There needs to be some push back on this so called liability and animal cruelty thing because that takes away perfectly fine and normal farm activities for kids. It’s not just farm kids either that want to participate in something like the pig scramble. All school kids get a chance to sign up. And kids love simple things like a pony ride, that is not harming any animals. My kids were so disappointed in the petting zoo this year. Not being able to go and hold the baby goats or even touch the animals for that matter.  
There was so much more missing this year too. There wasn’t even a fiddle contest this year to my knowledge.

Has the trade show and kids area always closed at 6 pm? If you live out of town then it’s hard to get in during the week to see anything. We came in and it was 6:20 pm and we were told to leave the area as everything was closed. So we went to the main arena to watch the show. It needs to start sooner as the final show was over at 11 then had to drive home. Seemed to have a lot of delays this year