The Western Fair opens its gates for another year Friday with more rides, food, and thrills than ever before.
The 141st edition of the fair offers nearly 60 rides for thrill-seekers including the Himalaya. Kids can escape to a land full of wizards, magic spells, and furry friends at the newly designed Imagination Park.
"Last year the theme was Pirates and Princesses, this year it's Storybooks and Fairytales," says Kris Dinel, Western Fair manager. "Inside that area we have Old MacDonald's Farm, Little Ray's Animals of Wizardy, the Balloon Tree, and a storytime area. Pretty much everything in that area is new when you compare it to last year."
For the big kids, there is Adrenaline Alley featuring extreme pogo demo crew Xpogo, the iFlip Trampoline Show, and daredevil aerial stunt artists the Nerveless Nocks.
Live music will be featured at the Jack Richardson Music Awards stage. Acts include Free 98.1 Made In London winners Hiroshima Hearts and Jessica Allossery.
Dinel says, over the past five years, an average of 190,000 people attended the fair during its ten day run. But with Canadian Country Music Week in town this weekend and Airshow London taking place next weekend, there could be some stiff competition for spectators.
"We may see some spinoff from the people who are in town for Country Music Week. We are hosting the CCMA Fan Fest event on Saturday. There will be a few thousand people out for that and there is a good chance they will decide to take in the fair as well," says Dinel. "The airshow is to be determined. Hopefully people have enough capacity in their calendars to do both."
Leading up to opening day, advanced ticket sales outpaced last year's.
Monday and Tuesday the fair will be closed to the public to allow for school tours and agri-programming through the Metroland Media Agriplex.
"Our Agriplex is always one of our most popular areas of the fair and when you talk about new there are a lot of new animals in there, we have some new agricultural displays, and some new education components," says Dinel. "I'd encourage everyone to attend the agriplex when they are here."
To make up for the reduction in public hours, the fair will open an hour earlier on Saturdays and Sundays - 10am to 10pm. Wednesday to Friday the fair runs 3pm to 10pm.
Admission at the gate is $5 for kids, $15 for adults, and $10 for seniors.
The Western Fair runs until September 18.