Wellesley North Easthope Fall Fair stays innovative while preserving agricultural history

By Emily Stewart

Joanne Stewart, past president of the Wellesley North Easthope Agricultural Society, remembers the stories her father told her about fall fairs in their early years.

The events began as school fairs and expanded into the greater community to showcase agricultural and culinary talents. Schools and businesses would shut down for residents to enjoy the fall fair.

“It was a great event to, what we would call today, network, meet up with your neighbours and hear the latest things,” Stewart said. “It was educational pieces for them, so it was very beneficial for the whole community."

The Wellesley Township Fall Fair, entering its 173rd year this August, has been significant to the township since 1873. Still highlighting the town’s agriculture, the Wellesley North Easthope Agricultural Society has made some changes to adapt to an evolving society with businesses now open seven days a week, for example.

“We had to look, as a community, what would work for our community and also be able to sustain the fair for the future and attract the community back to us,” Stewart said.

The fall fair moved to its current home at the Bill Gies Recreation Centre in 2024 and, in 2025, the annual event moved from a mid-week event in September to a weekend event in late August for the first time. Moving forward, the Wellesley Fall Fair will take place the fourth Friday and Saturday in August, before Labour Day weekend.

Stewart said that the decision was based around ensuring there would be no conflicts with other events in the area like the Tavistock and New Hamburg fairs, as well as the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese Festival and the fair ambassador competition at Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). Most exhibitors stayed amid the change, with a few unable to make it. Though there were some volunteers who had prior commitments and could no longer make it, they told Stewart they would make it a priority to volunteer at the fair for 2026.

The horse show was also moved to Saturday in 2025, which saw an increase in new participants. Mary Litch-Neeb, secretary and treasurer of the Wellesley North Easthope Agricultural Society, said most of the exhibitors these days work full-time to be able to afford to participate in horse shows.

"It is not an inexpensive hobby to have and most of them are hobby that have it,” she said.

As the fair is now in August, the first reminder for children to start creating materials for the children’s exhibitions and competitions goes out the June prior. The organization is keeping the dairy education portion of its programming in September so students in grades three and four have a chance to learn about dairy farming.

"We decided to move it to a week later, so it gives teachers the opportunity to arrange their courses to include the dairy-ed. portion because they feel it's a very important part of the curriculum to the school. Our dairy community has adapted that program very well,” Stewart said.

The Wellesley North Easthope Agricultural Society is coming up with new ideas and changes to preserve the fair and keep its history going. As the 175th anniversary will be in 2028, the successful Scarecrow show will be shelved until then.

The agricultural society is also unable to host a midway, as the space does not have the concrete necessary to do so without sacrificing necessary parking space, so other programming will feature talents such as musicians, face painters and jugglers.

In the previous edition of the fall fair, zucchini races and remote mini-cars were introduced and were a big hit. The Agri-Venture tent, featuring educational pieces on rural living and farming, was also a big hit and will be a highlighted feature of the fall fair’s programming.

"We're trying to adapt, and I think by adapting and growing in those areas, we're able to continually grow as a fair because over the years, there were a lot of fairs in the community and now there's only three in Waterloo Region,” Stewart said.

The 173rd annual Wellesley Township Fall Fair will take place on Friday Aug. 28 and Saturday Aug. 29. More information can be found online by visiting wellesleynehfallfair.ca.