The lack of sunshine Saturday morning didn't dissuade people from heading to the Aldergrove Fair, which had crowds of families lining up for the pony rides, watching quick draw shooting, and checking out the vintage tractors.
The annual event held in Aldergrove Athletic Park started back in 1912 as the Aldergrove Fall Fair. Now held in the summer, it remains an agricultural fair at heart, with 4-H Club members showing off their animals, judging of jams, preserves, and eggs, and the tractor pull.
There are a host of fun activities for families, including live music, pig races, and chicken bingo.
Yesper and Sophy Jannseen, siblings and members of the Otter Flying Feathers 4-H group, were at the fair with a variety of animals, including silky chickens, a pair of young emus, and Guess, a young pygmy goat.
"He's going to stay a very little boy," said Yesper.
Sophy brought her English angora rabbit, and the family also had an alpaca.
Visitors had a chance to climb inside a MII3A3 TLAV, an armoured personnel carrier of the same kind Canadian Armed Forces troops used in Afghanistan. The vehicle is owned by the Aldergrove-based Western Museum of the Armed Forces, explained volunteer Ian Smith.
"We like to bring military history to the people," he said.
Meanwhile, Bob Wright was getting ready for the vintage tractor pull, which included everything from older lawn tractors up to full-sized machines from years past.
"You're always got to have your fingers crossed," Wright said of the chances one of the three John Deere tractors his family brought might win a prize. "We've got quite a bit of competition here today."
In tractor pull, the tractor has to haul a heavy sledge, which has a moving weight that shifts position to make it harder the longer the event goes on.
Over at the dog agility competition Brigitta Ondzik was putting Rex through his paces. Rex's older brother is a champion at dog agility, but at just 16 months old, Rex is a little too young to compete officially.
"He's just basically having a blast," Ondzik said.
The fair continues through Sunday, with the gates open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is by donation.
