Generation to generation
Marcel Lafrance (left) took over organizing responsibilities five years ago from his father Roger. His goal was to create a more family-oriented feel for the farm show, much like their sister event out in Dundas County. Glover photo

Kevin Glaude (second, left) accepted the award for the Champion Forage Exhibit on behalf of Glaudale Farms in Berwick. The award was sponsored by Scotia Bank, Pickseed and McEwen Petroleum.
Moore photo

CRYSLER – Seed and tools galore were rampant through the Crysler Community Centre Thurs., Feb. 28 and Fri., March 1 with the 47th annual Crysler Farm Show.

“We had a good turnaround with 28 vendors and the dome is still accessible this year full of equipment to browse,” said Marcel Lafrance, organizer of the Farm Show. “That usually draws the crowd in. I’m glad to see some old vendors come back and Home Hardware is back again. This is a great opportunity with a no pressure, socializing event.”

In previous years, Lafrance felt that the show was a bit of a “gentleman’s club,” being associated with the bar downtown and with little emphasis to bring or attract others in. So, he wanted that to change in order to keep the Farm Show going for future years.

“As an organizer, we’re trying to put an emphasis on being more family-oriented. There was a big push to have the 4-H Club here this year and families come in to be committed to the show,” said Lafrance. “I think we have to engage the whole family and the next generation. To me, that’s what was missing in the past. We wanted to sort of copy our sister show down in Dundas because they are very family-oriented and I’m very proud of the work they’ve done, and we want to bring some of that here.”

Lafrance feels that the show needs something new every year to help bring and attract more people to the event, because sooner or later, people might become uninterested.

“I took my first year organizing as a status quo to see what the vendors wanted and what the general public wanted to see,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s hard work with the advertising and the social media part of it. It’s getting something new because if you always have the same thing every year, it just gets boring; it becomes a routine.”

At the end of the event, Marcel stated that while attendance was up, with over 300 attending throughout the two days, the number of vendors was down. He hopes to max out the number of vendors for next year’s event.