“Special”

I held the green and yellow ribbon to my face and inhaled. When I was a kid, awards and trophies, and especially ribbons and crests, just seemed to have this unique and distinct scent. I can still remember the smell inside the PECI cafeteria at the 1984 Picton and District Minor Hockey Association awards. You could have put it in a bottle and called it Eau d’Excellence.

My “Special” ribbon was for a model airplane entry at that year’s Picton Fair. My P-51 Mustang wasn’t exactly God’s gift to toy modelling. Its silver paint lines weren’t straight. The decals weren’t affixed in the right spots. There were wrinkles and air bubbles.

Assuredly, it was not a bad entry for a 10-year-old, but to my mind, the missing wheel from the landing gear was going to be the knock that kept me from the top prize. The hub had fallen victim to a model aircraft strafing run against my collection of GI Joes.

I crept alongside my mom at the fair that Friday evening, wondering what the esteemed judges had determined in what must have been an hours-long deliberation. Furrowed brows. Hard words surely were exchanged.

I peeked through nearly closed eyes at the display table, and caught a glimpse of my reward. My “Special” ribbon was like a warm hug for doing as well as my little ten-year-old hands could do on a plastic Revell model.

An everlasting memory, and with it a deep connection to our local fair, was forged in my heart forever.

The Picton Fair. So much has been written about the late-summer standard nearly as old as this newspaper. It’s daunting to even take up the task. But for a proud County native, it’s more difficult not to smile at the memories made and the prospect of another great post-Labour Day weekend at the Fair. It’s old home week for a lot of us. Friends old and new always seem to show up.

The sights, sounds and smells are as unique as this island community (yes, I said island). The Fair is very much a part of everyone who lives here. The squeals and laughter of children darting about the midway. The way a mid-September sunset hits the fairgrounds just right. The roars from the grandstands at the annual Demolition Derby. Chomping through a stick of Grandpa Ellis taffy.

Other than duty, what keeps this humble scribe coming back is the exhibit stands, at Huff Estates Arena and Rotary Hall. I particularly enjoy the photography entrants and, as someone who takes a published picture or two every week, I consistently marvel at the level and breadth of talented photogs in our community.

Speaking of community, a look at the displays created by the residents of our local Long Term Care homes is always something to look forward to. I like to think about such long-time residents, sitting around a table and talking about Picton Fair days gone by as they peacefully toil on a beautiful handmade quilt or a table cloth.

Another place I find myself getting swept away in a flood of imagination and inspiration is at the art show. Local artists put brush to canvas and capture colourful county scenes. Which one will take home the coveted Artist of the Year award in 2024?

But the most colourful display of the fair comes by way of the fruit and vegetable competitions and Flower Festival. Any Prince Edward County grower worth a pumpkin seed will be able to scan the field entries, see the name attached and say to themselves, “Well, I guess that’s where all the rain went this summer.”

The Fair Board is calling on all growers — from full-fledged farmers to backyard braves — to take up the challenge in 2024. Enter your best basket of tomatoes, carrots or apples. You don’t have to have a great green thumb, just a little community spirit and a few plants — or trees.

Near the fruit and vegetable displays are the annual hit of the fair: the local 4H Giant Vegetable Club’s prize specimens. Young growers spend all summer carefully tending — meaning watering — gargantuan pumpkins, colossal cabbages, and stupendous squash. 

Growing giant vegetables is an art of the long game. It starts with the trade in secret seeds among growers all over North America. And then, of course, creating perfect conditions, from planting to harvest. Larger pumpkins are actually placed on mattresses to help them maintain their integrity. In 2023, a late summer rain meant many giant vegetables swelled, cracked, and dashed the hopes of their young parents. You won’t want to miss the drama of this year’s crop.

At the cattle pavilion, this son of a dairy farmer always takes a special interest in the Black & White show. Every year I struggle to understand the judges’ reasoning, why the first place cow takes precedence over the second place. At the annual 4H calf show, I look on with a subtle smile as I think back to the time when I tried to get a young and semi-broke holstein to behave in the show ring. I always wonder, was I leading that calf or was she leading me? For a Parks, it was the poorest example of showmanship as has ever been displayed at a Picton Fair. Sadly, I was never cut out to be a cow man but that doesn’t stop me from admiring those who are and one day will be.

The Picton Fair is a living link to simpler times, when our forefathers and mothers were the stewards of the land. That care endures in the heart of every exhibitor, every single person who crafts, grows, bakes, or otherwise feeds and develops their entry. 

The good folks at the Prince Edward Agricultural Society are looking for a new wave of entrants to sustain the Fair and its traditions. This week, the Picton Gazette is proud to distribute the annual Fair Book, not just to the usual 500 or so suspects, but to 14,500 homes across the County and over 30,000 readers. Take a look at this cornucopia of classes and categories; there’s a category and a competition for every single kind of home and farm product imaginable. Somewhere in the arts and crafts of every description, from animal husbandry to zucchini growing, and from the raw fruits to the cooked pies, cakes, tarts and breads, there is something for everyone, and more. An entire Youth Exhibitor section includes art, creative writing, photography, and crafts. Maybe a young person in your life has something they’ve built, painted, written, created, or captured that deserves special recognition — or can rise to the challenge.

Everyone can take part, and take pride, in the Fair. When it comes to Prince Edward County traditions and heritage, the Picton Fall Fair takes first place. Every time.