Ottawa Valley Farm Show delivers warmth and tradition
Attending the Ottawa Valley Farm Show (OVFS) was an unexpected treat this year. In an unexpected turn of events, my Ottawa colleague, Jonah Grignon, was in Toronto covering the Canadian Crops Convention, leaving me to attend the farm show.
As an OVFS first-timer, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the people were as warm as the weather outside and only got friendlier as Mother Nature turned on her icy glare.
I’ll admit I tend to get lost at farm shows, but the OVFS layout was so well-thought-out that it was easy to find the exhibitors and events I’d chosen to cover, and provided plenty of interesting leads while walking from point A to B.
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I’d been told OVFS embodied more of a homecoming vibe than the London Farm Show – the only other indoor show I’d attended with some regularity.
And it’s true.
This farm show felt different, from the bagpiped opening parade to the toy and seed auction, the musical stylings of the Gladsome Gentlemen and Jessica Lavallee, to the many exhibitors and Kelsey Banks’ young farmers presentation – there was so much community connection.
Instead of feeling like a southern Ontario interloper, the eastern Ontario and Quebec crowd welcomed me in, sharing their stories and passions related to all things agriculture.
I had the opportunity to watch the hands of Pamela Lawes, of the Ottawa Guild of Lacemakers, dance across spindles, teaching attendees how to create a lace snake. It was fascinating to watch a largely lost art come to life.
The quilting ladies weren’t shy about teasing Wayne Fraser, president of Vintage Iron and Traditions of Eastern Ontario, and honorary president and auctioneer Carson Hill, when I sat down to interview them. The two groups shared a hall to display their goods and talents, rubbing along like the best of neighbours, teasing each other over the fence.
Fraser and Hill shared with me the ins and outs of what makes a good collectible agricultural toy and why people are so enamoured with scale iron. Turns out, sometimes the box is just as valuable, or slightly more so, than the item inside, and much like the big iron, everyone has a favourite.
Kelsey Banks shared her brain cancer journey and how she negotiated a new normal that required a different outlook, respect and understanding for life within her changed body – all the while achieving her life goals.
All that occurred before I stepped inside the exhibitor space to interact with people and companies I’d never had the chance to meet further south, or touched on the community support from OVFS, such as the Prestigious Pedigreed Seed Auction benefiting the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Toy Auction supporting Farmers Feeding Families, and the donation table for the Ottawa Mission.
It may have been my first time at the OVFS, but I certainly hope it wasn’t my last.
Source: Farmtario.com