By Jessica Jones For the Advance
A new fall festival featuring draft horse pulls, local vendors, and a large pumpkin and zucchini competition, just to name a few, will rein in the autumn season at the Stettler Ag grounds on Oct. 12th.
Presented by the Stettler District Agriculture Society, the Fall Fair Festival, running from 10 a.m to 6 p.m., is the first of its kind in recent years and will have something for the whole family, says Marj Savage, administrator for the Stettler District Agriculture Society.
“I think it will be really fun and have an interest for everyone,” she said.
“We will have major vendors here and we are hoping there will be a lot of families in the area that go to the Pumpkin Run and then come here and enjoy some food, the livestock, the petting zoo; this will be a really diverse market with a lot of product and food.”
A highlight of the Fall Fair Festival is the draft horse pull, where nine to 12 teams will compete to pull vintage tractors in order to display authentic horsepower.
Savage says the Central Alberta Draft Horse Club is interested in showcasing where the word “horsepower” really comes from.
“Basically the horses are athletes and train for this,” she said. “They (the club) really want the public to understand how much power horses have. A lot of people are so far removed from farming that they can’t compare horsepower to engine horsepower.”
The festival will also have a petting zoo for the kids, concession, a market with many vendors that attend the local Farmer’s Market, and a trade show.
Savage says that they have been contacting local businesses and organizations to see if they are interested in setting up a table or booth at the trade show for community awareness.
The Stettler District Agriculture Society formed in 1907 so Savage says there could possibly have been a Fall Fair Festival much like what they are putting on but there hasn’t been one in recent years.
She says the idea for a Fall Fair Festival, which they hope to make an annual event, came from a new board of directors, which she says is a “young, dynamic group, with diverse agricultural backgrounds and interests” who want to “work with the community and highlight agriculture for the county and Central Alberta.”
The group already has ideas for next year’s Fall Fair Festival and hopes to introduce a field crop competition with small grain.
“Once we get this one under our belts we will also start working for next year and get in contact with the local farming community to see if there is an interest in submitting grains and field crops,” Savage said.
Admission for the Fall Fair Festival at the Stettler Ag Grounds (4516 52nd St.) is free. For more information contact the Stettler District Ag Society at 403-742-6288 or visit, www.stettlerag.ca.
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