Local tradition for 170 years, Barrie Fair opened today in Essa

'I would say the majority of folks come to the fair for the midway and the entertainment. Especially the truck and tractor pull,' says official

Mable, a five-year-old red and white Guernsey, is hoping to leave the annual Barrie Fair with a blue ribbon.Wayne Doyle/BarrieToday

It’s one of life’s great mysteries: Why is the Barrie Fair in Essa Township?

“That’s a great question,” said Lisa Peterson, president of the volunteer-based Essa and District Agricultural Society, which owns the Essa Agriplex where the annual fair is held.

“The old fair location at Essa Road and Highway 400 in Barrie was too small and too crowded," she said. "It was becoming more of a carnival, which was great fun for the city folks, but didn’t do much to advance the agricultural society’s mandate for education and promoting agriculture.”

Fair enough.

The reason why it’s still called the Barrie Fair and not the Essa Fair, though, is also pretty straightforward — brand value.

The Barrie Fair has been an annual event for 170 years. It is, in the world of marketing, an established and successful brand, one that people know and accept.

The Essa and District Agricultural Society owns The Barrie Fair name and using it just makes sense.

“Barrie is our population base,” Peterson explained. “The fair hasn’t always been in Barrie. It was in Innisfil 50 years ago and now it’s in Essa.”

The fair begins today (Aug. 24) at 4 p.m., located at 7505 10th Line, near Thornton. Opening day will feature a trio of acts on the Paul Sadlon Stage, including Lakeside Groove, Lost in Time and headliners 30 Odd 6, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The fairgrounds open Friday at 10 a.m., and 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for children (ages five to 12) and free for children under five.

Campbell’s Amusements has built the midway for this year’s fair, featuring some of the more popular rides, such as the Orient Express and the Tilt-a-Whirl.

Tickets for the midway are $1.50 per coupon; $25 for 20 coupons or $50 for 50 coupons. Visitors can also purchase all-day ride bracelets starting at $150 (plus fees) for a family of four.

Last year’s fair, the first after a two-year absence because of the pandemic, had more than 22,000 people pass through the turnstiles, making it the best attended Barrie Fair in Essa Township in the 15 years it’s been there.

Peterson says last year’s attendance was more than double what it had been pre-pandemic.

“I would say the majority of folks come to the fair for the midway and the entertainment,” she said. “Especially the truck and tractor pull.”

Once they’re on-site, it’s up to Peterson and her crew to get them to engage in the agricultural side of the fair — a world that is, for the vast majority of people who visit, completely alien.

That’s where the value of the fair lies, she added.

“The fair gives us the opportunity to bring them in all at once,” Peterson said. "The experience is far less hands-on than visiting grandpa’s farm, but at least they can see how these animals are being well cared for and kept.”

Peterson noted that the farm population has fallen from 10 per cent to two per cent of the general population over the past 20 years and that’s made it increasingly difficult for urban dwellers to connect with farmers of any type.

“Those of us who are in our 50s or older, when we were kids, every one of our families had somebody who was a farmer, within a generation or two,” she said.

“Every summer, you’d go and visit their farms and experience where food comes from. We don’t have that today," Peterson added.

The Essa and District Agricultural Society's mission is to educate, promote and display agriculture to the residents of Essa Township, surrounding municipalities and central Ontario.