Too little, too late.
That is the unfortunate truth about the Brackendale Fall Fair, according to one of its organizers.
The fair has been cancelled for 2018 and remains so even after dozens of people, upon hearing the news, came forward volunteering to help resurrect the community event in time for September.
But it takes a small army year-round to get the fair off the ground, and it just can’t be done this year, says Glenne Campbell, one of a few organizers behind the event.
“A lot of chatter, but are the numbers there? No,” said Campbell.
The family-friendly community fair usually consists of live music, farm animals, hay rides, games — including the popular zucchini races — and 50 vendors with crafts and other specialty items.
“All this takes year-round planning. Each year, this planning has been done by fewer and fewer people,” Campbell said.
The issue of cancelling the fair is more complicated than a few people showing up to help in the days before the fair, Campbell said.
Understanding the history of the event is important to the discussion.
The Brackendale Farmers' Institute, which was established in 1915 and reinvigorated in the 1990s, is behind the fair.
The institute, made up of Brackendale residents, set aside 50 acres of land as a park, the area now known as The Brackendale Farmers Institute (BFI) Park, back in the 1950s.
The land is near Brackendale Elementary School, west of Ross Road.
The institute, organized the Brackendale Fall Fair starting in the 1990s as a way to promote community, celebrate summer, provide funds for grants to community organizations, and for the upkeep of the Brackendale Farmers Institute Walking Park.
The fair has always operated on a shoestring budget, according to Campbell.
In the lead up to this year’s now-cancelled fair, the planning was left to three core volunteers. “Everybody is tired, and everybody is busy,” Campbell said.
Though cancelling the fair is disappointing for all involved, there is some good news this year. The Brackendale Farmers Institute Walking Park has officially been designated green space in the District’s new Official Community Plan, Campbell noted.
“BFI feels great success with this,” she said. The bad news is that the BFI board consists of just a few people.
What the institute and the fair both need is for people to step up and take on year-round roles on either the board of directors of the institute or on the fair’s volunteer committee.
To volunteer for either or both, show up on Sept. 8 — the original date of the cancelled fair — at the Brackendale Fall Fairgrounds between noon and 4 p.m. .
Watch the Brackendale Fall Fair page on Facebook for more information.
**Please note, this story has been updated since it was first posted to reflect the time of the event on Sept. 8, which was determined after the original press deadline.
