The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair 2017

Here we are at another Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, and I was merely excited, I mean I was raring to go this year in good intentions of no problems happening this year as there was an argument this year and fair warning we were having too much fun. So we got there at around 1130 am, got my media pass.  Also I have added the amazing Winter fair logo display they made in the main lobby they made when you entered the Royal Winter Fair. It was the main thing I saw when I entered in the Royal this year. So it sure did bring in a warm welcome to the Fair this year. Of course I had to buy the horse show ticket as I didn't have a pass for it this year so I had to buy the extra ticket to get into that part of the event. So we looked around a bit before the Horse show, if I am corrected we had an hour and a half to kill before we went into the Ricoh Coliseum for the Royal Horse Show. We looked around for a while at the sheep and the goats and yes Plishka the goats didn't get cut! LOL... Sorry small joke that ran back in my high school years back in the day.    

                                                                                                          We looked at the Butter Sculptures as well that people put a lot of hours in and it they are sure very talented individuals to do such artistry with the butter sculptures, I remember one year someone did the head of Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. We also saw cows like the Angus cows, Jersey, Guernsey, Ayeshire, Milking Short horn, Swiss and of course our milking cows the Holsteins. Did you know Cows eat 100 lbs of feed a day and 20 lbs of grain a day and a bathtub of water a day? Also they lay down 13 hours a day and eating 8 hours a day! I know crazy right, I never knew this till I read the sign there which was a cool neat facts on cows. 

            

 So we went into the Royal Horse show with no ideas what all the horse jumping programming was and it was eye opening on the different programs for Horse Jumping. In my entire life I've never heard of Hunter Derby and it's similar but it is hard to explain but here is what the course looks like on the picture on the left side. Hunter Derby began in England, so that is the origin of Hunter Derby. After that they went to the Single Road to Bike competition which is like Hackney but again it is a hard one to explain as I have never rode a horse in my life, well not yet at least, maybe one day I will get to ride a horse! They also had a featured entertainer named "Bob Kur" not sure if that is the proper name but he is

an entertainer that goes around North America Entertaining people. Followed by that was the Junior Jumpers now note between them setting things up we went back out to the Agricultural portion of the fair looking at booths from Northern Ontario, especially one from Manitoulin (my stompin grounds back in the summer) and it is always nice to see Manitoulin business at the Royal Winter Fair each and every year. Also Honey, beewax pickles, tarts, chicken eggs also Oats, Hay, Corn Barly. There was so much to see there and I know there are story's I wanna tell on a second blog post which will come later on today as a 2 part blog. Also had vegetables, giant pumpkin weighing over 1200 lbs. Also a long parsnip, Rutabaga, apple judging, cheese like cheddar cheese, egg plant & cabbage, the list is endless.

            
                    Finally at the end of the day my dad got a muffin and a coffee and I got a chocolate cookie with a peppermint tea and we went into the horse palace as that is the way we go out and plus it is a nice way to finish up the day at The Royal Winter Fair and it's be a tradition for both my dad and I for many, many years. After we finished our treat and I took pictures of a few riders riding their horses in the warm up ring. After that we walked around the horse palace and we saw a white horse, absolutely beautiful and loved every moment of attention it got and we walked away away and we hear a neigh from that same horse as it was a sign "hey get back here and give me attention" But overall this year was a great and fun experience and cannot wait for the next year as I will be once again doing the Royal Winter Fair and trust me I am looking forward to it once again! I will be doing a side blog little later about some story after the Royal Winter Fair.



Chris

Royal Winter Fair 2016

First of all yes I am late on this post, I haven't been in a good mood since the end of The Royal Winter Fair which was 3 days ago. The first half was great but the rest not as much. However it was a good day and I think I was over tired and still recovering from lack of sleep but been sleeping well since Monday which is a great thing! Anyways lets talk about this years The 94th Royal Winter Fair. So I left around 9 am EST which is early, however I was up at 530 in the morning, crazy I know right? I am normally up early like this in the last 4 days so I am getting this routine down. So we got on the 935 am GO Bus and headed to the Go Train Station to catch the 10:12 am train to Exhibition Place. 

So moving forward to arrival at Exhibition Place, I arrived at around 11:20 am in the morning with my dad and we got our tickets for the Royal as I didn't have the Media Pass this year but it didn't stop me from taking 442 pictures, that's right 442 pictures.... So crazy it only  registered on the camera 66 - 90 pictures, so I was utterly shocked with it but I went camera crazy. First thing we saw was the vendors for horses, like saddles, boots, cowboy/cowgirl hat. Also got to see some non GM (Generically Modified Food) It had Orange, Red and Green Peppers, Tomato's the normal ones that we have on a regular basis like on Burgers etc. Then they also had the Cherry Tomatoes which go great in a Salad. They had 2 The Wandering Bean... Oooooh yes I am making a Mr. Bean Reference there... ha ha We then proceeded to the Animals which had Sheep, the old Goats that was for Mr. Plishka, Pigs, Piglets which were soooo cute! Silly old Wabbits (Rabbits) Yes I pulled a Elmer Fudd there. There was also Sheep judging in the older building which was where the animals are and always been. Use to be an upstairs but thats not used much anymore for this type of event. We moved on to the moos as my Niece Ryleigh use to call em. There were Holsteins (Dairy, Milk) Jersey and Swiss which I do believe make the cream that you put in Coffee and certain baking. Also Guernsey cow as well. There were so many areas represented, down in the Grand Bend area, South Simcoe Durham Region East which I am from obviously, Prince Edward Island and many more! We also had Nathan's Hot Dog and of course I indulged in a Beer. 

We went to the Horse Show and saw these competitions: International Jumper - Power & Speed Competition, H/H Pony Pleasure Driving - Amateur, Belgian Four Horse Team, Hackney Pony – Amateur, Jump Canada Medal Finals, Harness Pony – Amateur and Percheron Four Horse Team. We also saw in the International Jumper Power and Speed Competition Jessica Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen's daughter which myself and my dad have seen her compete in the past.

We went in and out of the Horse Show and continued to looked around, saw the area for the kids, petting zoo, slide etc. After the Horse Show, we looked around a tad, saw a Lama, Alpaca and some sheep, Long Wool Sheep, Meat Sheep. Then of course we went to grab some food but nothing really caught my eye, I ended up skipping dinner. If they had Perogies I would of eaten but I was in a miserable mood and my dad didn't help my mood. We looked at the grains and veggies then we headed to the Horse Palace. I was in a bit of a better mood but not any better. I will leave the rest of the night at that as I really do not want to talk about it. Here are a few more pics for your pleasure, have a good Thursday!

Chris