The leaves are turning a shiny shade of auburn and the autumn winds have begun to blow across the Tantramar marshes, which can mean only one thing. The return of Sackville’s annual Fall Fair! This year’s fair theme was “harvest hoedown” and involved the town working with various local businesses and organisations to host a number of fun events for all ages. This year marked the 22nd anniversary of the event and was officially kicked off on September 20 with the opening ceremony. At the ceremony, two awards were given out by the town. Todd Mcall was the recipient of the Citizen of the Year award and Abigail Austin received the Mt. A Youth Citizen of the Year award.
Across town, thrilled screams and laughs could be heard over the roar of carnival rides set up by Hinchey’s Rides and Amusements. This has become a staple of the event in recent years. There were lots of other events for the kids as well, including a youth parade and dance immediately following the opening ceremony. While Friday marked the opening of the fair, events were already taking place in the week before, including craft sessions and story time at the public library. On Thursday, a karaoke event at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre raised over $700 for the Sackville Memorial Hospital.
The fair continued into a busy Saturday, featuring a whole field of family-friendly activities put on by the Rotary Club of Sackville in the Chester Cole ballpark, including bouncy castles and a mechanical bull. Meanwhile at the Sackville curling club, “Domino Man” Bill Oakley spent the day setting up a display featuring thousands of dominos, which was satisfyingly toppled later that afternoon. As well, the annual fall fair parade was held, boasting the largest number of participants the fair has seen to date.
This year’s fair also coincides with Mt. A’s homecoming football game which brought out a roaring crowd from throughout the school and the town. This game saw a gathering of Mt. A football alumni for the Reignite the Flame Football Reunion, bringing together players, coaches and managers from the Mt. A football team from 2010 to 2014, to come and watch this year’s homecoming game. Over 100 alumni attended the reunion and were honoured during the game’s halftime segment.
Sunday marked the return of two long standing traditions, with the 9th annual sandcastle building competition and 11th annual “Anything that Floats” race, both hosted by the Middle Sackville Baptist Church. The latter event invited Sackville community members to create makeshift water worthy vessels, before racing them through Silver Lake. Both events featured plenty of prizes to be won by the competitors. Sunday’s events also featured a pet show from local business UAHoneyCo. and a harvest dinner at the Sackville Legion, raising funds for the Tantramar Heritage Trust.
The weekend also brought in a number of musical performances. Nova Scotian folk artist Old Man Luedecke played a show at the Sackville legion on September 18 and Moncton based latin band Latinacion jammed late into the night on Friday. The tunes continued all throughout Saturday with performances by Faye Tower, Raye Legere and Frank Doody, Jim Murphy, The Hound Dog Ramblers, Drew Moore, Larry Lemieux, and Freddy Meyers and Eddie Chase. Roxy and the Buzz Band played out Saturday’s festivities that night.
Sackville residents had themselves a fun-filled weekend, thanks to the variety of events at this year’s Fall Fair. While the town bids adieu to the festivities, they can look forward to more upcoming annual events, such as Moonlight Madness, an event put on by the town and local businesses during the holiday season, and Winterfest, a similarly fun-filled time which is usually held in mid-February.
