History
MELBOURNE FAIR HISTORY
The first school fair started in 1909 and in 1912 they became part of Government policy and grants were made available by the Department of Agriculture. After the war in 1945, school fair grants were dropped.
In 1936 one school fair offered a class for “A collection of groundhog tails” mounted on cardboard with a note under each showing date and how it was captured. The count was 7009 tails with the top three individuals having totals of 92, 72 and 63 tails.
The 4-H movement began in Ontario in 1912. The first organizations were known as “Boys and Girls Clubs” or “Junior Farm Clubs” and in 1952 the names were changed to 4-H Clubs.
MELBOURNE FAIR WAS 75 YEARS OLD
The president in 1985 was Rick McCracken who began in the society as an associate director. He stated that “the fair tries to offer a varied program of displays, events and competitions to interest all ages of rural and urban fairgoers. In this, the International Youth Year, we are encouraging the participation of young people in our community with: the baby show, school fair, junior fair, 4-H exhibits and our fair Queen.”
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THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
It’s believed that women were involved in the Early Pioneer Period Agricultural Fairs. During the period of 1840 - 1867 women were beginning to assert their rights. In 1858 the Minister of Agriculture promoted the learning methods of gardening to feed the family, gardening was largely the responsibility of the women.
In 1937 seventeen women formed the Women’s Division of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies. Be 1950 the Women’s Division was invited to meet with the Men’s Board to arrange meetings together. The 1971 convention marked the start of the Fair Queens as a way to promote the local fairs. The Canada Packers Quilt competition was created in 1976. This is now called the Ontario Agriculture Museum Canada Packers Competition.