The show will go on for the 105th BCNE Fall Fair in Prince George from August 17-20.
The BCNE board made the decision to go ahead with this year’s fair on Tuesday night.
The evacuees residing at the exhibition grounds are lending a helping hand to make sure the local 4-H auction goes ahead.
“The 4-H barn has got 2,000 small square bales and 100 round bales of hay for the evacuated animals in there and the evacuees have actually offered to hand bomb the little bales, to move the hay and to move the animals out of the barn so that the 4-H kids can have their auction and this is where they sell their animals every year, at the BCNE. I thought that was kind of stunning that the evacuees, not even knowing if they got homes to go to are offering to help out to make sure that the BCNE happens this year,” says Alex Huber, BCNE president.
The livestock will be well taken care of despite the increased traffic Huber says.
“The barns have been cleared out and we got a truck load of panels coming. They’re on their way from Alberta to help house some of the animals in a different location during the fair. A lot of these animals will still be here regardless of whether the evacuees are allowed to go home or not.”
Unfortunately, some popular events will not be happening this year due to a lack of space but two more activities have been added to replace them.
“We’ve had to cancel the motocross as it takes up half the rodeo grounds and it’s about a week’s time to set it up. We have had to shut that down as well as the rodeo over at the rodeo grounds but we’ve added some events like the roping event and the big barrel race,” says Huber. “We are going to have to make do with the other buildings but it’s definitely going ahead.”
The Canadian Chainsaw Open is also a go in 2017 and will feature some international talent.
“Paul and Jacob Frenette are coming from HGTV’s Carver Kings, Bob King is coming from the US, we have a competitor out of Japan and one out of the UK. We have a lot of high-end carvers coming to the fair this year to show their carving skills.”
Huber spoke to us last week on whether or not the fair was a go or not due to a number of wildfire evacuees at the exhibition grounds.