While many hamlets rely on annual midways to attract visitors, Priddis and Millarville celebrate the summer with an old-fashioned fair in keeping with their communities’ 111-year-old tradition. This year’s Priddis and Millarville Fair will take place on Aug. 18-19. Admission is $5 per person per day and free for children ages eight and under. Once inside the fair, all activities are free. Suzanne Sills, volunteer chair for the organizing committee, said there is plenty to see and do. “Our target audience is families, all generations from young to not-so-young,” she said. “It’s a busy weekend in the sense that there’s lots to see and do, but it’s intended to be a time when people can just slow down and enjoy life a little more.” The festival kicks off with the English Light Horse Show at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Through the weekend, attendees can look forward to judged events involving horses along with chickens, goats, sheep, and cattle. There will also be activities for children and bench exhibits for all to peruse, featuring horticulture, photography, handicrafts, antiques, and woodworking. These opportunities to walk and talk prepare guests for pie-eating, watermelon-eating, and rooster-crowing contests. Musician Tanya Ryan will join the festivities onstage on Saturday from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday will feature a magic show by Malcolm Russell at 12 p.m. and a concert by Rob Kroeger and the Considerables at 12:45 p.m. The famed Millarville Farmers’ Market runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. “People seem to appreciate that dual opportunity to hang out in Millarville and get your groceries at the same time,” said Sills. “They can get fruits and vegetables obviously, and then there’s always vendors with handmade products.” This year, several “make & take” activities will be added to the celebration at various times throughout the weekend. Attendees can get crafty making birdhouses, decorating cookies, painting garden rocks and tying decorative sheaves. The Sheep Creek Weavers are teaching fibre art skills such as knitting, crocheting, embroidery, kumihimo braiding, and weaving. Sills said the amount and variety of activities at the fair are obviously appreciated - the event typically attracts about 6,000 visitors. “There are people that come from the States, they come from across Canada to visit this time of year because they’re wanting to come,” said Sills. “We hear stories about a lot of families who plan reunions or vacations around this time of year… we’ve got some families that have been participating in the fair since its inception.” Don and Kathleen Arkes, for example, are the fifth generation of Don’s family to participate and in the fair - and they are not the last. Their sons, William and Joseph, are already getting involved. Don’s great-great-grandfather was a founding member of the fair. “We love to [volunteer] and we think that it’s important,” said Kathleen. “William is only 10 months old, so his participation is mostly that he’s there… but Joseph is going to be five, and last year he helped us - he showed his goats, he helped muck out the stalls afterwards. “I think if you start them young in volunteering they’ll just stick with it. That’s what our parents did with us, so we figure we’ll just keep going with that.” Kathleen said they love to be part of something local to their community and local on a larger scale. “When the fair started, everyone came from the farm. Now, a lot of our visitors have no idea where their milk comes from,” she said. “We love educating the public about agriculture in Alberta and where their food comes from… we think it’s a really important message to get out and it’s definitely worth the hours of love.” For more information about the Priddis and Millarville Fair go to millarvilleracetrack.com or the Facebook page, Priddis & Millarville Fair.
