DRAYTON – The Drayton Farm Show has been cancelled but the exhibitors continue to rally behind the Drayton Kinsmen. The show was scheduled to take place on March 25 and 26 at PMD Arena.
The decision was made on March 13 after Drayton Farm Show chairman Ray Kuper said he’d received concerns from some exhibitors about attending the show. After hearing that the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival was cancelled as well as local sports the group decided to cancel the show as well.
“It’s a good thing because we got even more emails from vendors today that would have cancelled too and what not and from pretty much all the emails I’m getting everyone’s pretty glad that we’ve cancelled,” he said.
Kuper also said he gave vendors the option to either get a refund, carry over their booth fee to next year’s show or donate it to the Kinsmen for community projects.
“So far most of them either (said) well hang onto my money for next year or a lot of them have said go ahead and use it in the community,” Kuper said.
It’s from the exhibitor fees that the Kinsmen make most of their profit from the show.
That money will be used to donate toward cystic fibrosis research and local community projects like shade shelters at ABC Park and the Kinsmen Park in Drayton.
Kuper said that the Drayton Farm Show will be back next year.
Collectible still available
The John Deere 530 was to be this year’s collectable tractor at the annual show.
However the Drayton Kinsmen are now billing the tractor as the “no show farm show edition.”
This year there is a limited amount of tractors for sale.
To order a tractor contact collector tractor chair Glenn Dobben at 519-323-1734 or email gwd@wightman.ca.
The Drayton Kinsmen will work with purchasers to deliver the collectable.
