North Thompson Fall Fair & Rodeo

“The best fair ever” came to Barriere this
year for the Labour Day weekend. In spite of
torrential downpours on Saturday and unsettled
weather the rest of the weekend the show
did go on and the people came. Mother
Nature did her best to put a damper on the
55th Annual North Thompson Fall Fair and
Rodeo but was soundly defeated by avid fair
goers and volunteer workers.
The rodeo arena suffered from the abundance
of water that continued to pool in front
of the grandstand creating a newly named
“Barriere Lake” for rodeo fans. Rodeo chairman,
Dick Ross, used heavy equipment for
two days to try to dry the ring and preserve
the footing for the livestock and chuckwagon
events. Finding that the tractors were making
just as much mud as they were trying to
remove, Ross finally called in the big boys.
A team of three heavy horses, owned by
the Stutt family of Chu Chua, and driven by
Melanie Stutt, were enlisted to drag the harrows
around the arena, making no new ruts in
the footing and greatly improving the surface.
(see picture on page 12)
The Mayor of 100 Mile, Donna Barnett,
Mayor of Kamloops, Mel Rothenberger,
Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Betty
Hinton, representative for MLA Kevin
Krueger, Pam Tyler, President of B.C. Fairs,
George Tatten, Barriere and District Chamber
of Commerce president Bill Kershaw,
Barriere United Church Minister Reverend
Karen Medland, Fall Fair Royalty Queen
Ashlynn Harris and Princess Holly Rose
Vesper, and Olympian Erin Gammel assisted
in the opening ceremonies which were MC’d
by Dave Moncees. The opening ceremony
ended with the release of 50 environmentally
friendly balloons.
Provincial Minister of Agriculture, John
van Dongen, visited the fair and spoke with
many area ranchers about the BSE U.S. border
problem.
Representatives from the 1st Battalion
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, a
division that spent many weeks in Barriere
last summer fighting the wildfires,
attended and marched in the parade.
A Barriere Search and Rescue
member stated that their concession
had “the best fair ever”, and the newly
featured Logging Show was a very
popular venue.
Fair organizers say the weekend
gate receipts were up by 10 per cent
and that overall the fair was definately
a huge success.