Vendor Village At Parham Fair Grounds

Craig Bakay | Aug 25, 2021

It’s the third weekend in August. For more than 125 years, that’s meant Parham Fair time. But the pandemic has changed things a tad, at least in the short term. Last year’s Fair, the 128th, was held virtually.

Although the Fair Board was pleased with the way the online fair went, this year they opted for something a little different, hosting and presenting a Vendors’ Market on a hot and muggy day. It was, after all, the third weekend in August.

“We have lots of vendors and 44 booths,” said Board Secretary Janet Anderson. “We had people pay a deposit and when they got here, we refunded it to them and encouraged them to spend it at their neighbours’ booth.

“You know, even at the end of July, we weren’t sure we’d be able to do this.”

At the end of the day, organizers estimated more than 600 visitors came by. But before anybody starts quoting ‘100 people outside’ rules, all of the visitors obviously weren’t there at the same time. It was a steady influx of people but there was a lot of room. Vendors were spread out around the ballfield with plenty of space for social distancing in between and the majority of vendors wore masks.

One booth where everybody was duly masked was the KFLA Public Health Unit who were there giving out vaccine shots to anybody who wanted them, as well as being an information source.

“It’s been kind of a slow day for us with this latest gentleman being our 11th dose today,” said RN Chris Newton. “A lot of people came by just to tell us they’d already had their shots but it was still good to come out here.

“The volunteers were really instrumental in helping us.”

One of the more interesting displays wasn’t really selling anything yet. Local girl Jen Goodfellow (mom Ann and dad Dave) and her partner Stephen Trussell were there to let the public in on their plans for The Local Brewery, a microbrewery and community wine-making facility they expecting to be bringing to Parham shortly.

“We hope to have beer sales by Christmas,” she said. “We’re in talks with Central Frontenac Council to buy the school property and hope to set up there..”