By Louise Smith
The government makes pronouncements about the handling of big events like concerts and agricultural fairs depending on Covid numbers. However, for many events, decisions cannot be made to go forward if those decisions do not take into account the preparation time needed to organize an event.
In the case of agricultural fairs, in divisions like handicraft and horticulture, contributors need months of preparation. Handicraft and horticulture each have booklets with multitudes of sections and categories. It takes significant time to make the crafts and to plan ahead when it comes to planting a garden for horticulture. Physical booklets and information on-line need to be in place ideally no later than Christmas so that planning and creating crafts can be done.
Ingeborg Fulford, a regular contributor to the Handicraft division of Brome Fair, misses entering her knitting and sewing projects. She made many entries hoping for a fair last autumn and held on to them hoping that this fall would be different.
Sadly, a second Brome Fair has been cancelled.
In regular times, the entry forms would have be filled in by Aug. 10, and the Tuesday night before Fair weekend, the handicraft items would be brought in to be judged and displayed, ready for the Brome Fair opening on the Friday for a four day weekend.
Linda Allen, a Chairperson of the Handicraft Division is hopeful that Fall 2022 will mark a return to more normal times.
