By LeRae Haynes
Special to the Tribune
The 42nd annual Horsefly Fall Fair welcomed many participants and visitors on Saturday – a true celebration of generations coming together and of being part of a wonderfully diverse community, according to fair president Sandy McNie.
“This fair is so wonderful for our little community. Everybody sees the challenges and the joys people get from showing their wares, whether it’s flowers, quilting or veggies. Everybody wants to see what their friends did.
“The fair is reflective of how many live here. A lot of people here grow their own food. There are people here who’ve been here 60 or 80 years and were born here. There are back-to-the-landers and young families, and all come together for the fair.”
This is McNie’s fifth year as president; she took over from her good friend Gigi Krumsiek, who had done it for years. “She passed away my first year as president – she asked me to take it over and it was a way to honour her.
“I love doing this! I have such a great group of people to work with,” McNie continued. “It’s so fun; we have a great committee and many stellar volunteers, including the Horsefly Seniors Activity Wellness Society (S.A.W.S.) who did the food.”
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The event included homemade ice cream and live music.
She added that weather and the smoke has had an impact on people’s gardens, and said it was still good to see such great participation.
Categories at the fair included flowers, vegetables, sewing, quilting, wood working, baking, preserving, art, photography and small animals.
“Horsefly is so rich in talent; artists and musicians,” she continued. “I moved here 10 years ago and one of things that drew me was the people. They are down to earth, they help each other and care about each other. It’s a real ‘together’ community and a great place to live.”
She said the Horsefly lifestyle often branches out into helping others. “Our quilting group here makes quilts for people who are sick, and to new babies,” she said.
She added that there were generous donations for the prizes, excellent judges, purely wonderful volunteers and a dedicated and enthusiastic committee.
“I’ve been gardening for 50 years, and have gardens wherever I go,” she explained. “It makes me happy.”
She lived on Salt Spring Island for 40 years and grew all her own vegetables. She and her husband lived in a house they built themselves, and when it was time for a life change, they looked around and thought it was time to do something different.
“I got a map and had a chat with my brother who lives in Williams Lake. ‘This is phase two for me, and I want to live closer to you.’ So, I took a compass, put the point on Williams Lake and drew a circle around it. I didn’t want to be more than an hour from my brother,” she stated.
“Horsefly was right in that circle. We came here, loved it and stayed.”
Being a gardener, it took a little adjustment for her.
“I started gardening in February for the first two years, and half my bulbs didn’t come up,” she said, adding that it was such an intense summer, with that heat, the vegetables just blew her away.
Her enthusiasm for gardening has helped inspire other people to do it – people who’d never gardened before. There are also a lot of long time gardeners in Horsefly, and she has enjoyed getting to know them all.
She added that with the trauma of the wildfire season, last year and this year, the Horsefly Fall Fair celebration is even more important.
“People really pulled together, overcame hardship and celebrated with every item you see entered in the fair,” she said.
“It’s like one big family getting together.”
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