​The 2024 Fall Fair was a Triumph!

The tremendous number of volunteers of all ages, the quality of the signage, the management of the huge number of people attending (often well over 900 vehicles at one time) and the oodles of quality vendors selling or giving away everything from morning coffee, to good old hotdogs to Thai dishes and Samosas.

Overall, though, it was the spirit of the event that was so good, in fact many commented that the Fall Fair at the Ganong Nature Park was the best ever. Insiders point especially to the work of this year’s chairperson of the Fair organizing committee, Colleen Winchester, the former principal of St. Stephen Elementary.

Colleen taught school for 35 years and for 15 more was a vice principal or principal. As such, she knows an impressive number of kids and now, grown-ups, who passed through her school. Not surprisingly, many activities at the Fair were kid-orientated –one face painter spent two full days painting smiling young faces.

Colleen is self-effacing about her role in the Fair. “I’m just one of a whole group of members of the Fair organizing committee,” she says. Then there are all the members of the Board of Directors of the Nature Park itself, and the numerous volunteers in their bright orange shirts, a lot of them teenagers. Colleen noted that members of the business community quietly provided support at no cost to the Fair.

Coleen and her husband, Wayne, have a farm on the Oak Haven Road and are well-placed to help when things need attending at the nearby park.

The Fair had a definite down-home, farm focus, from work horses, to sheep, calves, chickens, roosters, rabbits, and geese. There were also popular hayrides, and strategically placed larger hay bales, sectioning off the site, and providing a spot for photo ops.

A host of non-profit groups were represented, including from the arts, historical, and environmental communities was well represented with many booths for creative work by children and adults alike. A popular attraction was the sheep/dog trials, everyone admiring the skill of the two canine herders. Military reenactors were encamped in one section of the Fair site, their muskets at the ready. Meanwhile, music rang out from the busy stage.

Of course, the current president of the park, Alexander Gopen attended the Fair, as did past Richard Fulton, active in community causes as well as being a past president of the park, also assisted, along with many current directors. David Ganong, the chair of Ganong Brothers, is usually in attendance but he was delayed by the floods in Europe and could not make it this time. R. Whidden Ganong, who provided the sweet, chocolatey, inspiration for the park was present in spirit.

It is always risky to name names. But one family, in particular, has been at the heart of the Nature Park from the beginning. Peter Heelis of St. Stephen led the grass roots fundraising campaign which along with corporate giving, raised over $650,000 to get the park on its feet. Virtually every community organization, including boys’ and girls’ organizations such as cubs and brownies contributed a few loonies to the project. This reinforced the strong community foundation for the park which endures to this day.

Last weekend at the Fair the Heelis family members were still involved at every level – daughter Alexia and her husband Scott (who put on his popular Magic shows), son Robin on the tractor, and his wife, Jenn, and their two daughters, Maudie and May were all there. Meanwhile Norah Heelis, held the fort at the family farm in St. Stephen.

Colleen Winchester says Peter Heelis recruited her to be the chair of the organizing committee. “Peter has been my mentor, and a very good one too.”
​
One of the booths which was fitting for description in this Against the Flow blog was one staffed by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s Fundy Bay Keeper, Matt Abbott. It was a game for kids about swimming up stream against the current like a salmon!