Kootenay Country Fair

This will be the 33rd year for the Kootenay Country Fair at Fort Steele. (Photo courtesy Friends of Fort Steele Society)

Sep 12, Fort Steele –

Fort Steele will be a big attraction in the valley on Sunday, September 12, 2010. Bring the whole family and join the hundreds of folks at the 33rd annual Kootenay Country Fair, a real old-fashioned event just bursting with the flavours of the harvest season.

The gates open at 9am, just in time for breakfast –- a pancake breakfast, of course! It’s the only way to begin a whole day of great activities for everyone.

There’s a bit of everything for everyone at the fair. Of course, you can expect the usual displays of garden-grown splendor -– flowers, vegetables and fruits –- and this year the Cranbrook Garden Club is awarding a $50 People’s Choice award and the Kimberley Garden Club has a $30 prize for the most ribbons in the adult garden produce category. Casey’s Greenhouse is once again sponsoring the most unusual vegetable.

A country fair wouldn’t be complete without home-baking, art, photography and beautiful homemade crafts, jams, jellies and pickles. There will be commercial tables, live animals and, of course, scrumptious food. Watch demonstrations, take a wagon ride and tap your feet to old-time country music.

This year, there will be some rather unusual categories at the fair. Most of the younger generation will not have heard of smocking but your grandmother knew and you can admire beautiful displays of that gentlest of handiwork so popular in a day long ago. Hand-made birdhouses, funny and colourful scarecrows, exquisite hand-made pillows, wonderfully-written stories –- and this year there is even a category called “reduce, return and recycle”, sponsored by Southeast Disposal, proving that modern can beautifully blend with old-fashioned.

For the kids, there will be a petting zoo, face painting, decorated bicycles and lots of games.

Stay around for the auction at 4:30 when the produce, the flowers and the baking will go to the highest bidder.

Admission to the fair is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and the 6-13 year-olds and children under 6 are free. A family pass is $12.

Can’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day.