by Lorraine Payette, written July 21, 2013

“Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken,
Lay a little egg for me!”
– children’s folk song

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(LANSDOWNE, ONTARIO) The parade swept grandly through the village on July 18, with chicken aficionados on every float, and marchers strutting their stuff. At four locations along the route, Dreams In Motion produced crowd pleasing flash mobs, doing the chicken dance and asking everyone to join in. The Colonel for the Day brought his “buck-buck-bucKET!” as chickens rode horses and bicycles. The St. Lawrence District Medical Centre marched as turkeys, and everyone fluffed up and flapped their wings to be their absolute best.

Despite Friday’s intense thunder and wind storm (which knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in the surrounding area), the 149th Lansdowne Fair preened its feathers and put on a show like never before. Everywhere you looked, something “fowl” was going on, and folks were doing their best to live up to the theme of “Poultry in Motion”.

Fair Royalty checked everything out at the grandstand. L-r, Youth Ambassador Summer Claire, 11; Mini-Queen Arden Lowry, 5; Mini-King Cohen Smith, 4; and Ambassador Olivia Proctor, 16.

Live music by Grandpa’s Goodtime Gang

Face painting

The Fair had everything a true enthusiast could ever hope for – exhibits of home crafts and cooking, photography and art, and lots of animals.

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Contests and competitions were available for all, from horse pulling and racing, heavy horse hitches of every kind, cute babies and fair royalty, to zany fun like the toilet bowl races, egg and spoon competitions and egg tosses. The Conklin midway brought colour and excitement to add to all the fun that was already there.

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In the Junior “Under 18” Handler division of the heavy horses was an amazing young man named Jacob Bourbonnais of Metcalfe, Ontario. At the ripe old age of seven years, he has been showing Percherons and competing for three years. He says he does it because “it’s easy”, but it’s just a hobby for now, as he plans to go on and farm cattle and goats when he’s older so he can help feed people.

“Jacob is fourth generation showing Percheron horses,” said Greg Bourbonnais, Jacob’s father. “He was born doing it, and so was I. I think he’ll be doing it a little longer than he thinks right now.”

Bourbonnais and family enjoyed the Fair very much, and were pleased with what Lansdowne had to offer. Horses had come in from many areas, including Potsdam, NY, Metcalfe, and many other places in Ontario. Some of the competitions available were fuller and more varied than could be expected in many larger fairs, and may have rivalled the Ontario Winter Fair itself.

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“I love the fair,” said mini-queen Arden Lowry, 5. “Specially the animals.”

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For some people, there just wouldn’t be a fair with out the midway, and Conklin brought in their best for everyone’s joy.

Plans are already in the works for next year’s Lansdowne Fair. Their 150th, it’s sure to be something amazing. For more, please contact LAS at 613-659-2124 or visit them at http://www.lansdownefair.ca/ .