The Chesterville and District Agricultural Society held their 2023 annual general meeting on Sun., Jan. 22, and selected their directors and executive for the coming year. From the left, front row: Carol Johnson, director/past president, Ann Vanderlind, director/president, Nancy Balazs, director/first vice president. Back row: Directors Josh Pyle, Cheyenne Pyle, Peter Vanderlind, Darren Cooper and Chris Marsolais. Not present: Jacob Stadler and Kim Link.

CHESTERVILLE – The Chesterville and District Agricultural Society (CDAS) held their 2023 AGM on Sun., Jan. 22 and reviewed a successful 2022, while preparing for an even better 2023.

In her remarks to the board, outgoing president Carol Johnson said: “I want to say thank you to everyone for the great year that we had. “It was amazing, and it was so nice to get back to what we are supposed to be doing and actually hold a fair.

“Two years off was just – and I know it took a lot for even myself to get back in the saddle, but you guys did an amazing job, and I thank you all. Everyone did a fabulous job.”

Anyone who has been involved in an undertaking as complex as putting on a fair, knows that the list of things that need to be done or that you would like to do, never gets finished, but 2022 was a good year, with lots of clean-up being completed and plans for what will be addressed in the future put in place. More detail will come to light once the preparation for 2023 begins to ramp up. “Lots of work always to do, but we’re getting there,” said Johnson.

Social media played an important role for the CDAS in 2022. “We had one of the most successful social media runs since they made the Facebook page,” said director Cheyenne Pyle, who handles marketing and social media. “We’ve gained hundreds of followers on both Instagram and Facebook; our site visits have increased from what might have been 70 or less people to well over 100 or 200 as we get closer to the winter storage move in dates.

“Post-engagement alone on Facebook, we’re seeing it reach hundreds of people and up to 1,000 occasionally. In terms of social media, it has gone up and up and up and it’s going to keep going up and up and up.”

Financially, the CDAS improved their financial position substantially in 2022, which should put them in a good position as they prepare for what they hope will be an even better 2023.

One of the final acts for the 2022 board was to oversee the election of executive members, directors, and associate directors, but with all directors agreeing to stand for re-election, the only major change was the addition of a couple new directors and associate directors.

In terms of the executive, Carol Johnson declined running for another term as president but stays on as past president. First vice Ann Vanderlind was unopposed for the role of president while Nancy Balazs accepted the role of first vice.

The remaining directors are Josh Pyle, Cheyenne Pyle, Peter Vanderlind, Darren Cooper, Chris Marsolais, Jacob Stadler and Kim Link.

Associate directors for 2023 will be Justin Vanderlind, Shawna Seguin, Brittany Stadler and Brad Johnson.

The only position that went unfilled was that of secretary. The responsibilities of the position can be found on the CDAS website and interested parties are invited to submit their expression of interest.