Markham Fair

Markham Fair
These junior exhibitors are being judged for their handling abilities
Genre	fall fair/Agricultural show
Dates	3 days (week before Thanksgiving: last week of September or first week of October)
Location(s)	Markham, Ontario
Years active	172
Founded	1844
Website
http://markhamfair.ca

Markham Fair is one of Canada's oldest country fairs, an annual event established in 1844 and hosted by the Markham, Ontario and East York agricultural society. With over 700 volunteers working on more than 70 committees, Markham Fair is the largest community-based volunteer organization in Canada.

The fair occurs annually on the weekend before Canadian Thanksgiving, and hosts upwards of 80,000 attendees. Approximately 3,000 exhibitors enter more than 12,000 items, which are judged and put on display during the fair. Promoting excellence through competition in this way makes fairs unique in comparison to other events.

Agricultural societies used to meet on a regular basis to discuss various concepts of agricultural improvement such as development and increased grain yields. Often the society would collectively purchase a bull or seed grain, which would be made available to members only. The fall fair would then be an opportunity for the farmers to compete by showing off the fruits of their labour. Due to increased technology and rapid communication, agricultural societies no longer find it necessary to provide this service, but the Markham Fair continues to create the forum known as the fall fair, providing the community with a showcase for talents and products in a friendly competitive spirit.

As well as the competitive displays, the community is further brought together to enjoy various forms of entertainment such as horse pull, demolition derby, tractor pull, midway rides and displays of farm animals.

The fairgrounds are located in northern Markham at McCowan Road and Elgin Mills Road and sits of 104 acres (42 ha) of land. The site has several buildings used to house trade shows and other events. A 1/2-mile track and 4 stables are used to store animals. To the east of the fairgrounds is Little Rouge Creek.

The original fairground was located at the present day Markham Village Library at southeast corner of Markham Road and Highway 7. The fair moved to the current site in 1977, as the original fairground area grew less agricultural. The current library building was built to mimic the shape of the old Agricultural Hall that once stood at the site. A fire in 1916 burned down the new hall, ice rink and other buildings. Only the rink was rebuilt on the site.