The Ashcroft and District Fall Fair—which has existed in different forms since 1888—is looking for help from community members who would like to volunteer for the 2017 event, says Jessica Clement, president of the Fall Fair Association.
The association’s AGM takes place on January 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ashcroft HUB, and Clement says they need at least six more people willing to sit on the board and come to monthly meetings, held on the third Tuesday of each month, to plan this year’s fair.
Board members are responsible for finding sponsors, booking entertainment, writing grants, marketing the fair, creating activities for the AGtivity centre, creating the annual fall fair booklet, and being able to help with the setting-up and running of the fair, which takes place the Sunday after Labour Day (September 10 in 2017).
Clement says that the committee is also looking for people to help out during the weekend of the fair, with the biggest need being for convenors, who are responsible for the different sections of entries (hobbies and crafts; arts; preserves; etc.). The convenors need to be available on Saturday, September 9 from at least 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Duties of the convenors include laying out the entered items, helping the judges, putting ribbons on the winning entries, and ensuring that the judging paperwork is completed. They also need to be available on either the Wednesday or Friday before the fair, sometime between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., to determine the layout of their tables.
After declining attendance and entries, the 2016 fall fair made admission by donation, and saw the number of attendees almost double over 2015. There were also 117 more entries in 2016 than during the previous year.
“The Ashcroft Fall Fair has been a fun family event for a very long time,” says Clement. “Everyone involved with the fair enjoys the work they do immensely. We currently have a very small board of dedicated volunteers, but we are all finding there is too much to do, and not enough of us to do it.” She notes that if the committee does not have enough volunteers committed to helping, there will be no 2017 fall fair.
Anyone who has questions, or would like to volunteer, can contact Clement at (250) 457-7128. Any interested volunteers are also encouraged to attend the AGM on January 17.