Western Fair

Western Fair

The Western Fair is an agricultural fair held annually in London, Ontario, Canada in early September.The first Western Fair was held in September 1868 in downtown London, northeast of the current location of Victoria Park. Organizers had hoped to use the Crystal Palace Barracks as the main exhibition area. Livestock shows took place on the parade grounds outsite the Crystal Palace.

History

In 1887, when the fair gained legal status through the Provincial Charter and Act of Incorporation, it moved to 316 Rectory Street in east London, where the fairgrounds remain today. The present Fair Grounds were purchased for $65,000. Except for an eight-year period between 1939 and 1947 when the Canadian Department of National Defence occupied the grounds, the Western Fair has operated on the new site.

John Huse Saunders was President of the Western Fair Association (WFA) for 22 years. He devoted more than 50 years to the Western Fair and was known throughout North America as a poultry breeder. After receiving Honorary Presidential status the WFA changed the by-laws and limited the term to three years.

Facilities

The Western Fairgrounds are open all year. Apart from the fair itself, the Western Fair Raceway, slot machines, former Western Fair Museum and Archives (closed in 2005), an agricultural complex and a former IMAX theatre are located there.

Raceway and slot machines

London's primary standardbred horse racing facility is the Western Fair Raceway. A slot machine facility on the site was opened to the public on 28 September 1999, as authorised by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. As of April 2008, the facility contained 750 slot machines and has seen 9.4 million people, supported by a $15 million staff budget. [ [http://www.olg.ca/olg-slots/western_fair.jsp Western Fair Raceway at OLG Slots] ] cite news | url=http://www.lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=231067&s=successstories | title=Betting on success | publisher="London Free Press" | accessdate-2008-07-12 | date=18 April 2008 ]

Museum and Archives

The site hosted the Western Fair Museum and Archives which was established in 1997. This operation closed in 2005.

IMAX theatre

An IMAX film theatre was situated at the Western Fair site for nine years, closing on 30 November 2005, due to low attendance (an average of 100,000 patrons per year). It was leased by Dale Henderson, a retired engineer and former leader of the Stardust Orchestra, who intends to open the London City Music Theatre in October 2007, after renovations.

References

External links

* [http://www.westernfair.com/fair/wf_fair_home.html WFA Official website]
* [http://www.londontourism.ca/sportstour.aspx?&sitemapid=9 Link to a Virtual Tour of the Western Fair]
* "A Celebration of Excellence: The history of the Western Fair" Inge Sanmiya WFA 2000 ISBN 0-9687675-0-8
* [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ferris_wheels_in_Canada Ferris Wheels in Canada]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Western Fair Museum and Archives — The Western Fair Museum and Archives began with the efforts of Inge Sanmyia, who was working on her Ph.D. in history at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario in 1997. Her three month summer research project soon became the foundations… …   Wikipedia

  • Western Idaho Fair — The Western Idaho Fair is an annual state fair of the U.S. state of Idaho. It has been held in the capital city of Boise, Idaho every late summer/early fall since 1897, except for a few scattered years in between. The 2008 Western Idaho Fair will …   Wikipedia

  • Fair Harbor, New York — Fair Harbor is a community near the western end of Fire Island. It is located in the Town of Islip on Long Island, New York, to which it pays taxes. It is considered a hamlet, but most regard Fair Harbor as an independent village. [… …   Wikipedia

  • Fair Head — is a rocky headland at the north eastern corner of Northern Ireland, in County Antrim. It lies 3 miles (5km) east of Ballycastle town, and is the closest part of the mainland to Rathlin Island. It is a very highly regarded rock climbing location …   Wikipedia

  • Western Australia — Western Australian. a state in W Australia. 1,273,624; 975,920 sq. mi. (2,527,635 sq. km). Cap.: Perth. * * * State (pop., 2001: 1,906,114), western Australia. Covering 976,790 sq mi (2,529,880 sq km), it constitutes one third of the continent s… …   Universalium

  • Western Theater of the American Civil War — Western Theater Overview (1861–1865)   Confederate …   Wikipedia

  • Western United Front (Fiji) — Western United Front (WUF) was an ethnically Fijian political party formed prior to the 1982 elections and contested the election in coalition with the National Federation Party (NFP WUF Coalition). The formation of the Party Its support was… …   Wikipedia

  • Fair Warning (film, 1931) — Fair Warning est un film américain réalisé en 1931 par Alfred L. Werker. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique 3 Distribution 4 Autour du film …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Fair Oaks Bridge — Geobox|Bridge name = Fair Oaks Bridge native name = category = Pratt Truss bridge image size = image caption = official name = Fair Oaks Bridge other name = other name1 = etymology type = etymology = Fair Oaks, California nickname = flag size =… …   Wikipedia

  • Western architecture — Introduction       history of Western architecture from prehistoric Mediterranean cultures to the present.       The history of Western architecture is marked by a series of new solutions to structural problems. During the period from the… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”