Yorkton's annual summer fair: 124 years of enjoyment

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The Yorkton Exhibition and Summer Fair celebrates 124 years of agricultural and entertainment excellence this year. The 2007 edition will be held from July 4 to 7.

The annual four-day event will take over the Gallagher Centre and exhibition grounds. It will include such crowd-pleasers as the midway, nightly entertainment in front of the grandstand, horse racing, cattle shows and sales, and a wide variety of commercial exhibits and sales booths.

“The Exhibition and Summer Fair started out as an agricultural society and has grown up with the town through the years since then. It has been around for a long, long time,” said Don Kunkel, the General Manager of the Yorkton Exhibition and Gallagher Centre.

“This year marks the 125th anniversary of the settlement of Yorkton, and the fair has been around one year shy of that. So it is a big part of Yorkton’s history.”

Kunkel says the Yorkton Exhibition started out as most other fairs did in those days, “as a gathering point for rural folks to exchange farming ideas and practices.” It then evolved into a venue to compare farm practices and included livestock shows. From there, it progressed to incorporate entertainment attractions.

While organizers today try to ensure that a wide variety of entertainment is featured at the event, they still work hard to uphold the program’s agricultural flare. “Although most summer fairs are now more entertainment-oriented then they are agricultural-oriented, we still try to maintain that agricultural component,” Kunkel noted.

“We host a large 4-H Regional Beef Show and Sale in conjunction with our Summer Fair. We have a 4-H horse show, a miniature horse show, and a boar and dairy goat show that all tie into the agricultural component. We also have chuck wagon and chariot races, as well as standard-bred horse racing all at the same time.”

The event’s ties with the 4-H organization have become particularly strong over the years. The group’s Beef Show and Sale has been an annual component of the Yorkton Exhibition for roughly 30 years now.

Kunkel says the timing and history of the event always make it a popular draw, and he expects that to continue again this year. “Since everybody goes to their local exhibition in the summer, we are expecting another large turnout. There will be a million different things to do and a million different things to see,” he stated.

The annual fair is organized and hosted by the Yorkton Exhibition Association. More details surrounding the event’s program and activities will be made available as the date approaches. Additional information can also be obtained by calling the Exhibition office at (306) 783-4800 or searching the Gallagher Centre website at www.gallaghercentre.com.

Inquiries about booking commercial booth space can likewise be forwarded to the Yorkton Exhibition Association at (306) 783-4800.

For more information, contact:
Don Kunkel, General Manager
Yorkton Exhibition and Gallagher Centre
Phone: (306) 783-4800