Winter fair draws large, lively crowd

The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair kicked off on Monday with hundreds of people touring the Keystone Centre in Brandon, petting animals, browsing vendor booths and learning about agriculture.

“We’ve seen the horse jumping. We went to see the stables. We’ve been to the petting zoo and just checked out some of the market stuff,” Kim Kerelchuk said while visiting the fair in the morning with her five-year-old daughter.

In the petting zoo area, rabbits, llamas, sheep, chickens and more were on display.

“My daughter’s never been here before, so we’re just checking it out, and we’re gonna watch some horse jumping hopefully and see all the animals and take it all in,” Kerelchuk told the Sun as her daughter was off to the side petting bunnies.

Her daughter had so far been having a good time, Kerelchuk said, adding that watching her have fun is a highlight.

“Actually, just seeing the kids enjoy it (is) probably my favourite part,” she said.

An organizer with the fair said that despite the sustained snowy weather on Monday, the crowd was large and lively.

“We have lots of families here that are taking part and lots of great smiles and people enjoying themselves,” said Kristen Laing Breemersch, manager of operations and acting general manager of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba.

“I hope to continue and build attendance and everyone’s enjoyment at our Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, learning about our royal farm life, education and agriculture.”

Earlier this month, the province warned of a potential measles superspreader event at the fair, following a major breakout during Manitoba Ag Days at the same location in January.

Laing Breemersch said organizers are following provincial guidelines.

“We are following Manitoba Public Health regulations, and Manitoba Public Health has asked for a spot in our trade show to have a booth,” she said.

“They will be handing out any documentation or answering any questions to the public, and also providing anybody with vaccines for measles that request it.”

Laing Breemersch also said the fair is “busting at the seams” when it comes to entrants in several competitions.

The fair is split up across several different sections of the Keystone Centre.

Cattle were already being brought in Monday for shows later in the week, including for Kerri Hinsburg, who was tying several cows in preparation for juniors shows on Thursday.

Hinsburg is the chair of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Cattle Show, which will include a grooming competition, steer show and steer sale.

“They’re moving in today. The kids will be washing their animals, they’ll be starting to do some clipping on them — which is clipping unwanted hair off of them to make them look pretty — so it’s kind of like a spa day,” she said with a laugh.

The competition helps get the junior class — aged six to 21 — along with the cows themselves ready for other fairs later in the year.

“There’s a lot of things going on and … having the animals here at this show gives (them) a chance to really see a lot of people, a lot of strange sights and sounds. And it’s really nice because they can be enclosed in a building.”

The show also allows the competitors to see how their cow competes on the real stage, as the grooming process can look good at home but change once there are other cattle to compare, and vice versa, Hinsburg said.

“You get to a show like this, and then you realize she is competitive and she is good, and it’s a great place for the kids to visit with one another and reconnect and re-establish friendship or make new ones,” she said.

Meanwhile, the fair is also a chance for vendors and organizations to show off, including producers.

Kristen Matwychuk with Manitoba Pork said the event allows her organization to speak with people and help them understand where their food comes from.

“They get to come and see a couple of young weanlings so they can see how the animals are cared for, how they interact, what they look like, and gives them the opportunity to ask lots of questions,” Matwychuk said.

Once again, Animal Justice is calling for one event — the Barnyard Challenge, known in the past as the Calf Scramble — to be scrapped over concerns about how animals are treated.

The event has competitors chase and grab young calves, trying to remove a halter from the animal’s neck.

Last year after the same concerns were brought forward, the fair’s co-chair, Clint Swain, said it had no intention of cancelling the event that year, or in future fairs.

Organizers could not be reached for additional comment on the topic Monday afternoon.

The fair is slated to run until Saturday.

» alambert@brandonsun.com