Provincial Agricultural Fair of Canada West

Provincial Agricultural Fair of Canada West was an annual provincial agricultural fair held in various places^[1][2] in Canada West and after 1867 in Ontario.

The fair was established in 1846 and sponsored by the Provincial Agricultural Association and the Board of Agriculture for Canada West. It replaced an earlier attempt in 1792 by the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada^[3]

The fair was mainly an agricultural themed show featuring horses and domesticated animals from around what was still a very rural pre-Confederation Ontario. It would last until 1878 as it met competition with large number of local fairs that emerged across some towns and counties in Ontario^[4] and eventually succeeded by the Canadian National Exhibition in 1879.

List of Provincial Agricultural Association of Canada West/Ontario

The fair was held annually, but only a few years have been documented:

Other Fairs

A list of annual agricultural and/or country fairs in Ontario created before or after the establishment of the provincial fair:

• Markham Fair 1857 - Markham, ON
• Brampton Fall Fair 1853 - Brampton, ON
• Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show 1840 - Simcoe, ON
• Schomberg Fair 1850 - Schomberg, ON
• Western Fair 1868 - London, ON
• Scarboro Fair 1844 to early 20th Century - Scarborough, ON

Other annual fairs around Canada and the United States:

• Hants County Exhibition c. 1765 and annual since 1815 - Windsor, NS
• Canadian Western Agribition 1971 - Regina, SK
• Royal Manitoba Winter Fair 1882 - Winnipeg, MB
• Pacific National Exhibition 1910 - Vancouver, BC
• Great New York State Fair 1841 - NY State

References