Island's oldest exhibition could be a thing of the past

By Melanie Jackson
msjacksonpei@gmail.com

This could be the final year for PEI’s longest running exhibition.

Rising expenses, decreased funding and a lack of interest have put the future of the Eastern Kings Exhibition in jeopardy.

The exhibition, now in its 173rd consecutive year, is PEI’s oldest agricultural fair,. That legacy could be lost if its board of directors can’t recruit new members to help with the event’s organization and if attendance continues to decline.

“There’s nobody new stepping up, nobody coming forward who wants to be part of the board,” Melvin Ford, president of the Eastern Kings Exhibition, said. “People want an exhibition, but no one wants the responsibility of making it happen.”

That lack of interest isn’t just limited to the exhibition’s planning either.

Mr Ford said although the exhibition receives a $4,000 provincial grant each year, the event also relies on revenue generated by admission fees. But with attendance declining every year, the fate of the exhibition is almost certain.

“Whatever we make at the gate, we have to put in the bank to help fund next year’s exhibition,” he said, adding that attendance peaked about six years ago with 600 people coming through the gates, but last year’s event only saw about 200 people.

“At $5 a head, you do the math,” he said. “We just can’t survive on those numbers.”

Mr Ford said the exhibition is a part of PEI’s history and he worries that history will be lost if new funding isn’t found, new ideas aren’t brought forward and community interest continues to wane.

“I think some of the community feels like it’s history, it’s not exciting, it’s not fun,” he said. “There’s a big generation gap.

There’s nobody teaching the young kids the old ways, like baking or quilting. There’s just no younger people wanting to do that kind of thing.”

Beth Ching has been contributing to the exhibition - in one way or another - for almost 60 years, submitting her baked goods, hand-knitted wares and quilts.

“It’s really too bad,” Mrs Ching said. “It’s been going for such a long time, but the interest just seems to have gone down for whatever reason.”

Mrs Ching was introduced to the exhibition by her mother, Della Fraser, who was an avid supporter of the event.

“She went every year and put a lot into it. She did a lot of sewing. She just enjoyed it so much.”

With an aging population in eastern PEI, many old traditions are being lost.

“It’s kind of like church, a lot of the older people just aren’t able to participate in it (the exhibition) anymore,” Mrs Ching said. “And the young families are busy with children and activities or they’re not interested.”

Mr Ford said the board tried to come up with ways to make the exhibition appeal to the younger generation.

In an effort to boost attendance, they tried bringing in more activities for kids, such last year’s Eurobobble. However, numbers still didn’t improve and Mr Ford said it ended up costing the exhibition more than it was worth.

“Even if we wanted to bring in the popular rides, the Zipper or bouncies or whatever, we just don’t have the money to do it,” he said.

Mr Ford said local businesses have been very supportive over the years, contributing financially or offering products and services, but he’s worried that support will be lost if attendance numbers don’t pick up and businesses don’t see some return for their investment.

“It’s a really tough situation for us right now.”

Along with the expenses involved in hosting the exhibition, prize money takes up a huge portion of its budget as well.

“We run on about an $8,500 budget,” Mr Ford said, “but what people don’t realize is that all the displays - the crafts, the quilts, the food - about $4,000 of our money goes out in prize money.

And then between the horse prizes, it’s another $2,000 in prizes that we spend. That only leaves us $2,000 every year to survive.”
But, Mr Ford said, contest participants look for that money as a return for the time and effort they put in.

“Most of the time they wouldn’t even make back what they put in, like baking ingredients or gas to get their horse trailers here,” he said.

Even if no new blood joins the board of directors, Mr Ford said all nine of its current members are ready to resign. That’s why he’s hoping people will step up and help sustain the community’s history. Right now, four positions on the board are held by people who don’t even live on PEI.

“They’re on the board because they want the exhibition to survive,” Mr Ford said, adding that some board members are in their retirement years and simply want to pass the responsibility on to younger volunteers.

“We need new people who want to preserve this and who want to make it work,” he said.

Although the board considered cancelling this year’s exhibition, they didn’t want to jeopardize its long-running title. Instead, they opted to host only the horse pull component of the exhibition this year (tentatively booked to take place on September 15).

Mrs Ching thinks skipping the exhibit portion of the event might be a good decision.

“Maybe if we take a year off, somebody will come up with some better ideas,” she said, adding that she hopes the exhibition makes a return once people realize what’s been lost.

“Sometimes when you lose something, you realize that you need to do something to keep it going. It would be nice if they could bring it back again.”

Following the scaled down event, the Eastern Kings Exhibition Board will hold its annual general meeting, where, ideally, they will welcome new board members, or decide the fate of the event.

Mr Ford is hoping to avoid facing the worst case scenario - the end of the exhibition’s legacy.

“It’s been going since 1840. It’s a tradition that Souris has held, that it’s famous for. It’s ours,” he said.

He hopes by reaching out to the public, word will spread and people will take action to ensure the exhibition sees another generation of supporters.

“We’re the oldest running exhibition on PEI,” he said. “That’s something we need to hold onto.”

First appeared in The Eastern Graphic August 7, 2013