The second-annual Rainy River “Ag Days” and Trade Show seemed to go without a hitch last Friday and Saturday in Barwick, with organizers and participants very pleased with the results.
“I think overall it was pretty good,” noted organizer Kim Cornell. “The evaluations that were turned in were very positive.
“There wasn’t a lot of negative comments on the speakers, [either],” he said. “Overall, it was good.”
The format change for the trade show also went over big with both exhibitors and onlookers, Cornell said. Last year, the booths were set up in the same room that the guest speakers gave their presentations in.
“People never got their value out of the booth,” he said, noting all booth action stopped last year whenever a guest speaker began.
This year, the booths were set up on the curling rink surface attached to the Barwick Hall, allowing the booths to remain open the entire time.
“Then during the [Rainy River Federation of Agriculture] dinner Friday night, when they were getting ready for the dance, most of the people went down to the booths,” Cornell noted.
“I had two business since ‘Ag Days’ tell me they would have been there if they knew it was set up like this,” he added. “Those businesses said they’d be there next year.”
The only possible disappointment was the low number of entries in the 1998 Seed Fair and Forage Competition, especially with the good turnout it got last year.
Cornell said organizers decided to suspend Friday’s deadline to Saturday to try and fill up the categories.
“More came Saturday morning,” he said, although not much. “I know in other years, there were one or two people that got on the phone and called around for entries.
“But that wasn’t done this year.”
Other than that, this year’s “Ag Days” was a success, Cornell said, with the organizing committee already working out how to avoid any of the snags they had this year.
“You learn as you go,” he said.
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