Published in The BANAR July 1980
Fun Fair ’80 was a day of fun, fun, fun for all who participated.
It is impossible to mention everyone individually who was responsible for making the day so successful, but I would like to thank the celebrities who took time out of their busy lives to join us for the Canoe Race; also CKOY’s ball team for the fun game they played against the Teachtotallers, “A” champions, at the end of the Fair ball tournament. We also owe a hearty thank you to John Cains and the others at CKOY for the radio coverage they gave our fair.
There are two community groups I feel should get honourable mention and they are the Westpark Connection and Associates and the Woodhill Wombats.
The Westpark Connection is something else again. Ed Major and Wayne Lyttle were Fair directors in charge of Fair Features. Janet Erdig and Pat Ulrich convened the Craft Department. The quality and quantity of crafts were unbelievable. Lydia Benne convened the King and Queen contest and Jim Hood, Bill Collier and Associates organized that tremendous Parade. There was a Westpark Connection bed entered and last, but not least, Wayne supplied the Fred Guy moving trucks; his men and their wives helped the Venturers move the tables and chairs from the school to the saloon, to the arena, and back to the school Sunday morning. He also got the loan of the float for the stage. They even had enough ‘get up and go’ left to go to the dance. If there was an award for street or group participation, there is no doubt who would get it this year so, on behalf of all the Fair goers, let us take our hats off to the Westpark Connection and Associates for many of the events so well done.
The business community was terrific with their support this year. All the auction articles were donated which brought in $1,600 for the Fair. It is very difficult not to give special mention to some of the donors, but where do you start and stop? Everyone who donated before the June BANAR deadline got an ad in the June BANAR; the balance are listed this month. If anyone can come up with a better way of thanking all these people, please speak up; but, just remember one thing, $10.00 to a new privately-owned small business often is felt more by the donor than a $200.00 donation from the profits of a big corporation. Let’s not overlook the spirit that the donations are given in — money value isn’t everything.
There are two facets of the Fair that should have some feedback from the people involved and they are the two competitive events: the Ball Tournament and the Bed Race. Len Bourdeau is having a meeting for anyone interested in the Fun Fair Bali Tournament on Thursday, July 3, 1980 at Blackburn Public Library at 8:00 p.m. This is your chance to put your ideas forward where they will do some good … don’t wait until next May, after the fact.
There has been feedback about the games and prizes for the past couple of years so this year we tried to get a handle on some of them. The Fish Pond gave out 750 – 25e prizes, 770 – 204 prizes and 975 – lse prizes, making a total of 2,495 prizes. Each ‘fish’ cost 15e – 1 ticket. The other games had prizes ranging in price from 6e to $1.00. It stands to reason, if you give the winners a 60-cent prize, everybody can’t be a winner or the game would soon go broke, but our reasoning was that kids like to receive something, so we got the 6, 10 and 15-cent prizes for the kids who were part-winners. The price of the games were also kept at 15e as it was felt the kids just like to play the games; they don’t expect to be winners every time and raising the price to 20e would just cut back the number of games they can play.
Dennis Donnelly, Treasurer, reports: “Fun Fair breaks $20,000 Gross Income which will net a return to the community in excess of $10,000”. A financial report will be published in the October BANAR. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing me to chair the Fun Fair for the past three years as it has been very rewarding to be involved in its growth and its success. There were approximately 1,200 people involved in putting the Fair together and they had fun doing it. Let us never lose sight of the first priority of the Fun Fair which is FUN. The spirit and fun that is generated by Fun Fair can never be bought with money, so let’s keep the things we benefit by the money raised, a by-product of the Fair.
Thanks again!
Lois Kemp.
