Editor’s note: Includes quotes from exhibition officials.
There will be no Grand Forks and District Fall Fair in September in 2013.
At a recent meeting, the Grand Forks and District Fall Fair Society voted unanimously to change the date and name of the fair, with the newly-named Boundary Country Exhibition at Grand Forks taking place annually the weekend before Labour Day – Aug. 23 to 25 in 2013.
“Over the years, the fall fair has acquired different attractions than in the past and the membership felt the need for a positive change for the future of the fair,” said exhibition secretary Kelly Gilmore when asked about the name change.
Les Braden, Boundary Country Exhibition at Grand Forks president, said the move was made after listening to the public.
“We had so many people complaining about the fact they had no money after the GFI (Grand Forks International baseball tournament),” Braden explained. “We said, ‘OK, we’ll up the date.’ The other thing is, the week after the GFI, there’s next to nothing for flowers or anything for people to enter, so we decided that’s another reason.”
Braden said essentially, it’s the same fair but a few weeks earlier and while some people may be away from Grand Forks in the late summer, tourists can take the place of vacationers.
“The population is still up at Christina Lake, so once they start seeing some of the stuff that we’re going to have, I think that they will definitely be interested and be coming to see things,” said Braden.
At a meeting of Grand Forks’ city council in October, Braden proposed three sites – North Fork and Franklin Road, south of 68th Ave. and 3.5 acres west of Dick Bartlett Park – that could serve as a permanent home for the exhibition and council suggested he put together a business plan.
Braden said he is working with Sarah Winton of Community Futures to put the plan together.
