n the days leading up to the Smith/Hondo Fall Fair this past Labour Day long weekend, a roadside sign warned that the fair was in danger of disappearing. But as it turned out, according to organizers the fair was one of the most successful in years.
For 26 years the fair has delighted audiences of all ages from both near and far and the prospect of not having a fair this year was troubling news indeed. SHARA (Smith Hondo Association for Recreation and Agriculture), the volunteer operation responsible for putting on the fair, was short on volunteers.
“We had plenty of volunteers that helped set up and tear down the fair, but we didn’t have enough coordinators,” says Darren Fulmore, SHARA president. “The fair is our big event for the year and we needed more people to be manning tables, and booths and that sort of thing.” Fulmore, who started volunteering as a hockey coach for kids, has given eight years to SHARA and hopes that there will be something for the kids after his own are grown up and moved on.
Former SHARA president Nancy Sand has been with the group for a decade and was the person responsible for the sign warning of the fair’s disappearance and admits that it was an effort to help drum up support.
“We had people calling from all over offering to help, from around town and as far away as Edmonton,” she said. “It (the fair) is basically about exposure for Smith.”
According to Sand, the town itself has no real drawing power – it’s off the highway and is sandwiched between Slave Lake and Athabasca, two centers that are virtually self-contained. There’s no drive for consumers to come into town.
It worked because the 2005 Fall Fair was a big success. With the vast majority of fairs costing more money than they make, this year it generated a small profit. About 475 people turned out for the steak supper while 325 people paid to enter the dance with music by country artist Ann Gerhardt and her band 8-Second Ride.
The fair itself is inexpensive. “Fourteen dollars gets you on the grounds for the whole weekend,” says Sand, “while children under 10 are free. “There’s face painting, a petting zoo, calf scrambles, and more, all free inside the gate. And to camp all weekend only costs $10.”
Camp they did as the grounds around the complex looked like a veritable city of campers and fifth wheels.
A rare occurrence at the Fall Fair was this year’s addition of an amateur rodeo.
“It’s been 12-15 years since we’ve had a rodeo,” said Sand. “We didn’t have one for a long time because of possible repercussions from injured participants, but this year it was a go right from the first mention.”
Adds Fulmore: “We’d like to see it again at next year’s fair.”
Response was very enthusiastic but confusing registration procedures inevitably meant that wranglers didn’t bring enough animals. Extra animals were brought in from Kinuso and Athabasca to help fill the gap but there was no bull riding on the first day.
“We even got some donations from companies in Slave Lake,” Sand reports. “That’s something we’ve never done before. And the response was great!”
A rumour began circulating Saturday night, September 3rd that a man’s head had been bashed open by a bottle during a fight and needed emergency assistance. According to Sand, a small flashlight was the culprit and it happened by accident outside the complex among a group of young people. The flashlight was being tossed from one boy to another when a third inadvertently stepped into the path. He required stitches and received $80 cab fare back from Slave Lake paid for with remorse by the person who struck him.
As good as this fair was, it was marred by vandalism Sunday night when a group of youth tipped over some rented port-a-potties causing damage, cut down some trees, and made a general mess of the site. SHARA is waiting to hear from the rental company regarding damages, but President Fulmore wants to send a different message than in the letter that ran in The Lakeside Leader on September 14 which implied that all Smith youth have “no respect at all”.
“A lot of our volunteers this year were teenagers and other young people. They’re good kids and they want everyone to know that not all teens are bad apples,” Fulmore says.

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