Tractor and truck pulls will be allowed to run until 1am if necessary at next weekend’s Drayton Fair.
At the July 23 meeting, council approved a request from the local agricultural society for an exemption to the municipality’s noise bylaw for the Aug. 9 to 11 event.
The society originally requested noise exemptions until 11pm on Friday and Saturday evenings for truck and tractor pulls scheduled to end at 10pm both nights.
However, CAO Patty Sinnamon reported that society president Brad Schieck later requested the exemption be extended until 1am. Rain delays and problems with the pull boat caused the Saturday night tractor pull at last year’s event to wrap up around 3am.
Not everyone on council was in favor of the longer exemption. Councillor Andy Knetsch said residents who live near the fairgrounds, including himself, are inconvenienced when noise is allowed to continue that late.
“We need to be respectful of each other. The reality is that when it goes to the extreme of running at that hour of the morning, that mutual respect is not there in, my humble opinion,” said Knetsch.
“Are you going to tell 4,000 people ‘That’s it,’ when the show stops at eleven o’clock?” wondered councillor Neil Driscoll, who agreed with the 1am deadline but said there should be no extension beyond that.
“What I’m concerned about is the growing progression of this intrusion and I don’t believe that it is fair,” said Knetsch, who voted against the motion to grant the extension.
Driscoll and councillors Mike Downey and Jim Curry voted in favour.
