WELLINGTON COUNTY — Many agricultural societies in the county have seen a drop in youth volunteers, causing some of them to have a difficult time getting by with fall fairs.
The Palmerston ambassador competition, held on Aug. 23, had senior ambassadors being asked to discuss the importance of agricultural societies in a digital age. They were then asked how they would recruit the current generation to become involved, seeing as numbers are dropping.
These questions were prompted because of a rise in agricultural societies in the area struggling to find youth volunteers.
Palmerston
Director and social media co-ordinator of the Palmerston Agricultural Society, Karen Goddard told the Advertiser that the Palmerston Agricultural Society held its annual general meeting in January.
She said from the adult perspective, they had new directors join the team and have had many people express interest in the volunteer positions.
But “from the youth side of it, it is a bit lacking.
“We put a call out through the schools, through both the high school and the elementary school, looking for volunteers,” Goddard said.
“We thought it was really promising because we offered for every two hours of service that they provided at the fair, they would get their name put in a draw for a $200 gift prize.”
Goddard said that only four youth signed up, and she would be impressed if they all arrived for the fair weekend (Aug. 25 to 27). She added that declining numbers in volunteers will have a huge impact on the future of the agricultural society and the fall fair.
“We truly rely on volunteers to make it work,” she explained.
Aberfoyle
Second vice president of the Aberfoyle Agricultural Society Joanne Holt said their community has already lost a few fairs in the last couple years because of the lack of volunteers.
“We can’t do what we used to do,” she said. “You’ve got to have somebody there for insurance purposes, because that also is killing us.”
“If we don’t get some youth volunteers, we can’t continue,” Holt added.
She said people currently involved at the agricultural society in Aberfoyle are getting older and are having health concerns.
Holt has found that paid employees are not enthusiastic when it comes to working either, and that it seems this is the attitude many youth have in the area.
The Aberfoyle Agricultural Society is always looking for volunteers, and Holt said she will welcome newcomers with open arms.
Harriston-Minto
Katherine Noble is the president of the Harriston-Minto Agriculture Society and said their society is also struggling with getting youth volunteers.
“It’s a hard age group to get engaged,” she began. “But I think it’s really important to get them engaged because, at the end of the day, they are the future of the fair.”
“They’re the ones who are going to either sustain the event or be the reason that it does not continue.”
Noble said that the Harriston-Minto Agricultural Society reached out to the Palmerston Agricultural Society this year to see if they could share resources because of the lower number they are seeing with volunteers.
Fergus
Director of the Fergus Agricultural Society, Rebecca Hannam spoke to the Advertiser over email stating that they too are experiencing challenges with finding youth volunteers.
“We have very few youth interested in volunteering their time, with the exception of a handful that are family members of other existing volunteers,” she explained in her email.
She said it has also been hard finding participants for the Fergus Ambassador program — a youth leadership program that they have improved over the years which now offers a scholarship.
“Getting involved in the community is a great way to build a young person’s resume and it is also rewarding in other ways,” she said.
Get involved
Anyone interested in helping with this year’s or future Fergus Fall Fairs can visit fergusfall.ca or email them at info@fergusfallfair.ca.
To get involved with the Aberfoyle Fall Fair, visit their website or email them at aberfoyleagriculturalsociety@gmail.com.
If you are interested in helping out next year with the Palmerston Fall Fair, visit palmerstonfair.ca or email info@palmerstonfair.ca.
For Harriston-Minto, visit harristonmintofair.ca or email info@harristonmintofair.ca.
