The following excerpts were taken from the book “Orford’s Story – 1827 – 1977”, edited by Charles L. D. McLaren, and printed by Dominion Press Limited, Ridgetown Ontario.
The first Orford Fair was held at Clearville in 1854. Howard township joined with Orford for a combined fair in the years 1857 – 65 holding it in alternate years in Morpeth, Clearville, Ridgetown, and Duart.
Membership fee was $2.00 which allowed the member’s family free admission to the fair. Others were charged ten cents. At early fairs the people walked or came in oxen drawn wagons. Prize money at the first three fairs was paid in pounds, shillings and pence. The boys drove the sheep and pigs to the fair and dad came along with rails on the wagon to make the pens for the animals.
The 1858 ploughing match of the United Societies of Howard and Orford was held at Hatch’s field in Duart. It is recorded “that the day was good and attendance was large”.
The Fair at Duart, on Wednesday, October 10, 1860, was much larger than any former exhibition, with 503 entries recorded by D. H. Gesner, Jr., secretary. “The arrangements and preparation of the grounds were far superior than last year”. The agricultural show was held on the school grounds, and a horse and cattle ring, sheep and pig pen and a slab wood shed for grain, roots, vegetables and small implement displays. The impressive building on the north side of the Ridge road was dubbed the “crystal palace” and held displays of quilts, carpeting, fancy knitting, crotcheting, loom made clothes, butter and cheese. Only first and second prizes were given. Another first for this show; that the society in taking entries for articles, were instructed “to place a different number on each article or lot shown without reference to who may own or show said article”. From the secretary’s book, it is quite obvious all the embroidery and fancy knitting prizes were given to men although the judges listed were ladies: Mrs. Harrison, Mary Campbell, Mrs. Bury. One may suspect that these delicate items were not really the work of the so named winners that year or even four years later when prizes were awarded to John Green, Duncan McLaren, Ed McCollum, Zenus Watson, and others. Total of $139.75 was given in prizes.
The Ridge or Middle Road was used for the procession of “draught” (draft) carriage, single harness, saddle horses and maybe even working oxen. One local hotel owner, an enthusiastic horseman, was a keen racer in the buggy and would take on any comers for an exciting, if dusty, challenge on the Ridge Road.
The President in 1860 was John Stewart and the Howard Orford Agricultural Society claimed 95 paying members. The energetic committee for the show was Thomas Alexander McLean, John Cunningham, Andrew Tait, Ed. H. Ridley, Chris Abbot as well as Daniel Blue, John Stewart Gesner, Hugh D. Cunningham and Edward McCollum.
Duart hosted both the successful Ploughing match and the annual Fall “Exhibition”, with 489 entries, in 1864, the last year of the united Howard-Orford Agricultural Societies (1857-1865). After January, 1865, the Orford fair was held in Duart until 1877. Since then it has been held in Highgate. The hall that was built was damaged by a cyclone in 1906. It was enlarged in 1926 at a cost of $1,725.00
A novelty race was introduced in 1912 and was held yearly until about 1935. Other contests at the fair included milking, horse harnessing and hitching, catching a greased pig, tractor driving and tractor square dancing. The school fair came under the sponsorship of the Highgate and Orford fall fair in 1936, a relationship that has continued ever since [note – the Orford school closed in 2001, and since then the Society has worked with local schools in Ridgetown].
Help us build a photo archive for the Society
A small group of volunteers is currently working to put together an archive of written and photographic items that span the history of the Highgate District Agricultural Society. If you have items that capture our history and you would like to share them with us, please email copies to [email protected]. Alternatively, we could arrange to have items picked up and scanned (with originals returned) depending on the item. The older...the better!
Help us create an archive that celebrates and remembers our impact on the local community.
From the Archives
Here we have a copy of a letter dated from 1946 from Mr. James McDiarmid to Mr. M. W. Scott with a recalled history of the Society and its annual fair.
Highgate District Agricultural Society P.O. Box 58 Highgate, Ontario N0P 1T0