West Niagara Agricultural Society has a new president

The new directors of the West Niagara Agricultural Society were voted into position at the annual general meeting. Welcome to new president Renate McGillivray. ~ Ann Marie Chechalk photo

By Ann Marie Chechalk

Welcome to presidency!

At the annual general meeting held in January, Renate McGillivray was elected as the new president of the West Niagara Agricultural Society.

While new to the presidency job, McGillivray has been volunteering and fundraising for the ag society for many years at the West Niagara Fairgrounds.

“To the best of my recollection,” said Renate, “my initial engagement with WNAS occurred in September 2017. There was a phone call, asking if I would run the horse show at the fair. This resulted in fundraising to expand the outdoor riding ring and improving the footing and constructing a new warm up ring and buying mats for the new livestock building. A saddle club, The West Niagara Saddle Club was established and the Finest Niagara Horse Showcase came into existence.”

Beyond the saddle club, McGillivray was appointed a director and later second vice president on the executive, where she spent four years.

“I believe it is necessary for all directors of the fair board to assume a turn in leadership responsibilities. It is unrealistic to expect a single individual to fill this role for an extended period of time.”

“My main goal is to make sure our society is sustainable for the future. I’m excited to invite our members and directors to all work together to make this goal a reality. We always need more volunteers to help us out, and I am hopeful with the support of all the volunteers, past and new, we can make the work load easier to manage. We are working on implementing systems to make things run even smoother.”

“My goal,” says McGillivray “is let’s work together and be part of the solution and make a positive difference in our community.”