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Great weather brings out the crowds at Timmins Fall Fair

Pat Bamford tells us about his fascination with wiffle ball

The great weather this weekend brought the largest crowds ever to the Timmins Fall fair with an estimated 5,500 people attending the two-day event at the Mount Joy Arena.

"Last year we reached 4,400 people in attendance, and it looks like this year we will surpass that with about 5,500," said Rock Whissel the President of the Timmins Fall Fair. "This is a celebration of our local food producers, their products and the harvest."

In addition to the display of the award-winning vegetables, baked goods, flowers and other products made with local farm products, the Timmins Fall Fair featured a host of crowd pleasing activities from pizza eating contests sponsored by Pizza Pizza and Le Loup FM to horse rides, and an extended petting zoo feature farm animals and exotic animals such as an alpaca- llama , emu and lemur. 

Of course the cute sheep, cuddly donkeys, pigs, goats, ducks and chicken were all there too.

Sue attended the petting farm with her three grandchildren. The were thrilled by the llama-alpaca mix named Hummer and all the other animals on hand.

"I think it is great for my grand children to be able to get close and pet the farm animals," she said.

A very popular attraction was the SuperDog Show with several spectacular events that highlighted the exuberance and dexterity of many breeds of dogs from Chihuahuas, to German Shepherds and Border Collies. The stands were packed for the several shows that were offered.

The show was hosted by John Diefenbarker wearing a Red and White maple leaf tuxedo. He really was Montreal comedian and magician, David Acer, who was as much an integral part of the show as the SuperDogs.

The SuperDogs show consisted of several skill testing activities that included high jumping, Frisbee catching, racing and even some intellectually challenging quizzes.

Another sort of dog show was taking place in the Mountjoy Arena where an owner and dog look alike contest was held.

Also on hand was Ward 4 Councillor Pat Bamford who was enjoying a day at the fair.

"I came to take in the fair and in particular a demonstration of wiffle ball," said Councillor Bamford.

"Wiffle is a form of tennis played with a wiffle ball (a white ball with holes in it)," explained Councillor Bamford. "It is a great activity for seniors and a way to stay active."

The game is also sometimes called "pickle ball".

Councillor Bamford said he was looking at the demonstration to see if the city provide wiffle ball courts in the new athletic centre.

Being an agricultural fair local farm products and food was a main attraction. On hand were stands that sold vegetables and baked goods.

And there was Get Ribbed, a local BBQ rib, pulled pork and porchetta stand operated by Dale and Antonella Dupras. On hand to help out was Alfonso Collarossi.

For the kids there were plenty of games such as the basketball free throws, the climbing gym and the UFO laser tag tent. Horse rides were provided by Clovercroft Farms, which has been providing riding lessons in the Timmins area since 1999.

"We will be going down to Sudbury in two weeks to compete in a horse riding competition," said Renee Lafleur, the trainer at Clovercroft Farms.


Frank Giorno

About the Author: Frank Giorno

Frank Giorno worked as a city hall reporter for the Brandon Sun; freelanced for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. He is the past editor of www.mininglifeonline.com and the newsletter of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers.
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