Steve Vesely, FunFair Chair
Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2026 Blackburn FunFair a successful event: our hard-working volunteers, our financial sponsors, our attraction and event partners and our community who came out to enjoy the festivities!!
This year’s FunFair produced a number of fun facts & figures:
- Almost $7,000 in fundraising was netted after expenses and distributed to local community charities and service groups. Thank you Blackburn!
- Our lead sponsors the BCA and the Optimist Club of Blackburn Hamlet contributed over $20K to this year’s fair. Strong community business support provided another $6K.
- Congratulations to local resident Amy Zambonin who was the winner of the Blackburn FunFair 50/50 raffle! Amy won $285 and splurged a little on family vacation extras with her winnings.
- The rain held off enough to allow team Home Safe to defeat newcomer Escape Fire Protection in extra innings. The victory helped them unseat 3-time champ Big Bats for the Funfair Softball trophy.
- The Silent Auction raised $4,500 from over 50 businesses and the online bidding platform saved countless volunteer admin hours.
- Reading is still popular! The Used Book Sale raised almost $1,500 in contributions.
- Showcase popularity: our business showcase raised over $6K for a second straight year from over 50 vendors, and spots were sold out one month ahead of the fair!
- 200 guests enjoyed our Saturday night main act, SOS: The ABBA Experience despite the rain!
- Unlimited ride bracelets were a huge hit and sold out mid Sunday. We’ll make sure to have more next year! The Funhouse Maze edged out the Big Red Baller as the most popular attraction for the second straight year. The soccer darts were the least popular.
- Light Lager Ale from Broadview was the most popular beverage in the beer garden but Blueberry Blond and Amber were not far behind!
- 120 high school students reached out with interest to volunteer and 115 of them showed up, totaling over 1,000 volunteer hours for the weekend. Way to go students!
- Most favorable comment: Affordable ride bracelets. Thank you!
- Common complaints included poor ramp access in the arena, having the maze too close to the car smash, misplaced flying soccer balls and high ticket prices for the main music act. All noted! Thanks to all for the feedback.
My sincere thanks to everyone who pitched in to help. I’m very proud of the team that put in the work and put on a fantastic event. Next year’s fair will run June 4-6 and we hope to see you back! Interested in getting involved? Reach out to chair@blackburnfunfair.ca for more information.
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FunFair Survey
A lot of work and planning goes into organizing the FunFair every year. As we start preparing for 2027, we’d like to hear from you – the community – about the good, the bad, and everything in between on this year’s FunFair! Your feedback will help us make it even better next year! Visit blackburnfunfair.ca/ 2026-funfair-survey/ to answer three questions with as many or as few details as you’d like.
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Shout out to our sponsors!
The FunFair would not happen without the generous contribution of time and labour of our committee members and volunteers. It would also not happen without the generous financial support of many of our local businesses. A big THANK YOU to all for your generous support toward the 2026 FunFair:
Platinum sponsors $5K+
The Blackburn Community Association and the Optimist Club of Blackburn Hamlet
Gold sponsors $1K+
Amrize, Blackburn Pharmacy, Christine Bussieres Broker, LaPierre Law Office, Blackburn Arms
Silver sponsors $500+
Metro, Gagnier Miller Real Estate, Bunning & Farnand LLP, Connexion Family Health Dr Skaff & Dr. McFarland, Waste Connections of Canada, Myers Orleans Chevrolet, Distinctive Bathrooms & Kitchens, S&R Mechanical, Sandalwood Promotions, Pineview Golf Course & Halibut House.
Bronze sponsors $250+
Broadhead Brewing Company, Long & McQuade
Political sponsors with paid advertising of $500+
Laura Dudas Councillor Ward 2 Orleans West-Innes
Stephen Blais MPP Orléans
Mona Fortier MP Ottawa-Vanier
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Funfair Honorarium Distributions
Your community spirit helped raise $9000, despite the rain, enabling our fair volunteers to give back $9,000 to local non profit Blackburn community groups, organizations and associations through our Honorarium Distribution Program.
