Discussions

The First Fair in Brandon was held only five months after the incorporation of the city. The farmers in the area and the citizens of Brandon both realised the need for a Fair. The citizens wished to show off their new city and the farmers hoped their showcase would demonstrate these regions potential. The Agricultural Society was formed and the first Summer Fair was planned, but it was held in October 1882. The first Board of Directors were mainly farmers from the surrounding area like Mr. J.W. Vantasswel, Mr. Charles Pilling and Mr. George Halse. Mr. J.E. Smith was a Real Estate broker, farm implement dealer and livery stable operator. Mr. William Johnson and Mr. R.T. Evans were also farm implement dealers. Mr. Thomas Lockhart was an agent for a Manitoba loan company.  
 
At the first Fair about $200 was donated in prize money by local businesses. Classes were held for cattle, horses, pigs, poultry and grains. The first Fair was marred by bad weather and so very few entries arrived for the competitions. The board members were not defeated in their poorly attended first endeavour and began planning the second Fair, again scheduled for October, because this would allow farmers and livestock breeders to attend.  
 
This year the city fathers supported the Fair and gave a generous donation of $2,500 and the Brandon district Council gave a further grant of $2,000. Another grant from the provincial government of $2,100 gave the Fair Board all the support and money they could ever have wished for. With this money the Agricultural Society could purchase a small Lot of land south of the city, (Richmond Avenue) and to erect a building called “the Crystal Palace” named after the massive structure erected in England for the 1851 London International Exposition.  
 
The Second Annual Fair.  
 
The second Brandon Annual Fair in 1882 had over 730 entries with good competition in classes for horses, and vegetables with a new exhibit of Ladies Work and Fine Arts. The Fair was a major disappointment in the Cattle competitions with only 31 entries, still the directors put on a good face and said they were pleased with their second presentation. Their President Mr. Charles Whitehead said in his speech at the Annual Meeting “If this country does not beat every other in agriculture, stock raising and general farming it will be no fault of the Brandon Agricultural Society”.  
 
The truth of the matter was that many critics were not happy about the operation of the Fair. The fall schedule was often in conflict with the harvest and bad weather. The Brandon Sun commented after the 1884 Fair failure thus:  
“The slim turnout of the farming community is attributable, in a great degree, by the backwardness of the harvest: there still being a large acreage to be yet stacked. It is a great pity, however, that in such a fine farming country those who are mainly benefited by a good display of farm productions had not showed more interest. If the heads of the households had taken half the interest in the show that their ‘better halves’ have, the display of grains would not have been limited to a single bushel of oats. It is rather humiliating to think that with hundreds of bushels of first class wheat that have been grown in this country, that not a single farmer had pluck enough to show a sample of wheat.”  
 
The criticism and complaints kept on coming, all of which was bad news for the Fair Board. It was suggested that the Board of Directors had poorly promoted the fair locally, as many of the local farmers had not heard of it. The Fair was well supported by the Press and local residents but the low gate receipts and bad attendance put future plans for the Fair in jeopardy. The Society often made its own mistakes but other circumstances caused major problems, none worst than when the funding from the provincial government of 1885 was supposed to be a grant of $1,500 to $2,000, and they made plans to spend this amount but to their dismay the actual amount was $250.  
 
The directors, having over spent had to make appeals to the province and the city council for greater assistance, but their cries were overlooked. To avert this near terminal disaster the directors had to get a loan from the bank with their own personal assurances to cover the loan. This crisis was cause to consider the future of the Brandon Fair. All the great dreams of the beginning years had not been fulfilled. The Society had purchased Fair grounds and started construction of some magnificent buildings, but they could not attract either exhibitors or spectators. The citizens of the city lay the blame on the timing, it was not a convenient time to hold a Fair, because it was the busy season for farmers and the Fair could not offer enough to attract the men away from the fields.  
 
In 1888, the problems with the harvest and the weather were still retarding the growth of the Fair: the October attendance was again very poor. The Directors were forced to vote on moving the Fair to a summer date. They were aware of the gamble because most of the local Fairs were held after the harvest. Association secretary, Mr. E. Fitz Bucke noted: “As it is found impossible to make the fall exhibition a success, it is intended to hold the annual fair about the first week in August: that being a time when a holiday can be indulged in by the farmers without loss to them.” The citizens were generally in favour of this move but they were suggesting that the Fair should be made more interesting. The editor of the Brandon Sun wrote:  
“For some years the interest in agricultural exhibitions has only been maintained when the management with a view of making a financial success of the exhibition has digressed from the cast iron rules, and introduced features that were evidently more attractive to the general public than a large squash or a thoroughbred sheep.”  
The Sun was correct, all 22 local Fairs in western Manitoba were there to promote agricultural excellence, but the city people were not interested in livestock and grain shows. Brandon was a regional centre with its urban population was growing fast and needed more to make its Fair successful. The city folk required more excitement and so did the farmers so the Board of Directors had to do more to save the Fair than to just change the date of operation.