The Powassan Agricultural Society is looking for new members to help the aging group with the annual fall fair.
President Monika Gibbings says the age span at the volunteer organization ranges from 40 to 90 years and most of the members are on the older side.
Gibbings is 80 and past-president Jim Hilton is 71.
The annual fall fair is all the organization can handle.
Gibbings says the agricultural society would like to be able to put on more events but without extra volunteers, the fall fair is all it can host because it doesn’t have enough bodies to carry out the work.
Gibbings has been a volunteer with the Powassan Agricultural Society for 38 years. Hilton, a farmer, has been a member since 2014; however, his dad was also a farmer and a long-time Agricultural Society member and Hilton helped the organization as a young man with his dad.
Hilton says agricultural societies play an important role in rural communities. He says for one thing they help make the public more aware of how food gets to our tables, which is a message the local group pushes every chance it gets with the fall fair the major platform where members get to interact with the public.
Gibbings says being a volunteer doesn’t require a lot of time.
The group meets once a month every fourth Tuesday at the local Legion to discuss the annual fair. The meetings become more frequent as the fall fair draws closer.
Gibbings says the Powassan Fall Fair is well attended and she attributes that to the quality attractions the organizers bring to the community.
Hilton acknowledges that the Society has a tough time attracting volunteers and he can’t quite put his finger on why.
“We might get more volunteers if we present the idea better,” Hilton said.
He also said if the organization does attract a younger crop of people, the present members should be open to a different way of doing things if that’s a suggestion from the recruits.
“Let them go ahead with those different ideas,” Hilton said.“We need younger people with new ideas so we can expand the fall fair."
Gibbings says the fall fair is a great way for high school students to accumulate their 40 hours of community work to graduate.
She says what normally happens is younger Society members with high school-aged children usually get their kids to help but Gibbings wants to spread a wider net to attract more youth.
An idea the Society has been toying with is to have members of the local society talk to the high school students and explain the farm cycle — how the work of farmers in different sectors ensures there is food on the table.
The Society is already planning next year’s fall fair which regularly takes place during the Labour Day weekend.
The Society was established in 1895 and has hosted a fall fair annually, except for 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the event.
Gibbings says it’s not just Powassan’s Society that faces a shortage of volunteers, many agricultural societies are in the same boat.
Can it mean the end of the Society and the fall fair? “I don’t want to go that route,” says Gibbings adding the society is fortunate to have great members who take on a lot of the work.
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer can send an email to [email protected] and go here for more information.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
