It has been a long time coming now but the new 4-H food booth and exhibition area will be open at this year’s Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society Fall Fair.
The old 4-H food booth was demolished late in 2023 and the first layer of gravel was laid according to Sherri Hay, President of the Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society.
“It was knocked down and they laid the gravel and everything so that it could sit over the winter,” she said. “Then this spring they started pouring the cement and started building. So we are in the final stages now, so it will be ready again. It’s going to come down to a crunch, like the other buildings but it will be ready and it’s quite spectacular.”
This has been much-loved treat at the Emo Fair for many years and with the newly upgraded facilities 4-H members will be happy to fill your orders.
All proceeds will be going to support 4-H in the district.
Upgrades have been happening across the fairgrounds for a number of years and now the 4-H building’s turn. The building serves up some of the most popular burgers and fries at the fair with the proceeds going to support 4-H programs across the District. The new space has been designed to work better for the volunteers serving up the tasty food.
“There is a very large kitchen with three deep fryers,” Hay said. “A very large grill and lots of room for people to move around, a lot more than there was before. They really thought about where they were going to put the cashier so they had the best line of vision to see all the windows.”
In addition to selling food the 4-H building holds the 4-H exhibition hall which showcases the exhibits each District 4-H group does about their activities over the course of the summer or year prior to the fair.
“It’s a really nice, new exhibition hall. At the entrance we plan to have I guess what you’d call a hall of fame,” Hay said. “We’re planning on putting all the plaques and everything up there.”
In addition to the new building the grounds are now also closed in by a new fence along Colonization Rd. as well as on the grounds between the grandstands and the Borderland Racing concession stands and also between the grandstands and the 4-H Barn.
There is also more work to be done as Hay says they’re working to create separate entrances on the north end of the property for animals like horses and cattle and race cars going to the pits at the track.
“We’ve currently also been working on putting a separate driveway in for the horse and cattle people, and we’ll have a separate entrance-exit from borderland racing, so there will be another fence that goes up separating that,” Hay said. “So lots and lots of improvements have happened. We are hoping the next step I guess, we would like to do a new concession for borderland racing, and add on to the small animal barn.”
Funding for fairgrounds renewal comes from a variety of sources including the annual fair raffle for $25,000. The 4-H building also received funding from last year’s Mardi Gras gala among other fundraisers over the last few years. The improvements would not be possible without a community that comes together to give of their hard-earned money and resources.
At the recent RCMP Musical Ride the committee opted not to sell tickets but to do a silver collection instead.
“We chose to do a silver collection instead of selling tickets and we’re very, very grateful for the community that we’re in, the donation amount was over $9,000,” Hay said. “It was great to see, the attendance was amazing.”
When you hit the fairgrounds this weekend, be sure to check out all of the improvements to the fairgrounds, especially the new 4-H food booth and exhibition hall.
