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Fair attendees of past generations at the Portage Ex cattle show.
Photo: Portage Industrial Exhibition Association
horse show_PORTAGE INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION ASSOCIATION
A historical horse show.
Photo: Portage Industrial Exhibition Association
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Horse sport competitors of days long past try their luck at the chariot races.
Photo: Portage Industrial Exhibition Association
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The Portage Ex campgrounds have helped draw visitors from farther afield.
Photo: Portage Industrial Exhibition Association
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Toby Trimble Sr. shows his Clydesdales.
Photo: Portage Industrial Exhibition Association
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The midway draws modern thrill seekers.
Photo: Portage Industrial Exhibition Association
Many things have changed in the century and a half since the Portage Ex was established, but the Trimble family has been a constant for the bulk of those years.
“I think somebody from our family has been on the board since it was incorporated in 1907,” said Paul Trimble, a current Portage Ex board member and past president. “My family farm was homesteaded the same year.”
Why it matters: The Portage Ex is the longest continuously running agricultural fair in Manitoba.
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The first incarnation of the Portage fair was held in October 1872, 35 years before the Trimbles arrived in the area. At the time, the community’s population was about 300.
The Western Canadian Agricultural Exhibition, as it was then called, saw farmers from around the region enter their cattle, pigs and poultry into livestock competitions. The first fair had 400 entrants.
The town and fair both grew quickly as the newly formed province of Manitoba boomed. By the 1890s, the event drew crowds upwards of 25,000 people and more attractions were added, including a popular horse-racing track in 1891.
In 1894, the decision was made to hold the fair in summer.
“I believe it was at one of their annual meetings that the then-minister of agriculture recommended switching it to a summer fair because harvest was not the most convenient time, especially for an agricultural fair,” said Trimble. “We’ve been in July since then.”
By the time of that change, the organization running the event had changed its name to the Portage and Lakeside Agricultural Society and the fair had moved to its current location next to Island Park.
In 1907, the organization became the Portage Industrial Exhibition Association and an additional 15 acres, plus several new buildings, were added to the grounds.
That same year, Trimble’s great-grandfather, Joseph Trimble, would become the first of the clan to get involved in the event when he bought shares in the fair. He would eventually serve as president of the board from 1941 to 1956.
The Trimble who put the most time into the fair, however, was Paul Trimble’s grandfather, Toby Trimble Sr. He began working for the fair in 1920 at 14 years old, selling tickets on the midway. Later, he became an exhibitor renowned for breeding Clydesdale horses and Shorthorn cattle. He also served a stint as board president in 1955.
During the fair’s 125th anniversary in 1997, at 91 years old, he was honoured for over seven decades of service.
The fair has become a tradition for the Trimbles and their extended family.
“I also have a nephew (Kiernan Olson) and brother-in-law (Jim Olson) who are current directors,” said Trimble. Jim Olson has also served as president. So have Trimble’s sister and father.
Fair changes
There have been changes to the Portage Ex in the quarter-century since the last big anniversary. Most significantly, the once-popular races were discontinued and, in 2008, the fair dropped the annual parade.
However, the fair’s popularity in general remains high and, with the addition of on-site camping, it has been able to draw visitors from further away.
Most recently, the Portage Ex endured the same fate as many events around the world when the pandemic made large-scale public events impossible. The fair was cancelled in 2020 and 2021.
“We had a few things going on, but we didn’t have our usual fair,” Trimble said. “It was just spread over a longer time period just to keep the numbers of people in any one area down, to try and meet the mandates that way.”
The board hosted online competitions and shows throughout those two summers.
The pandemic is also the reason the 150th anniversary celebration is happening in the 151st year since the fair was established. Things got back to normal in 2022, when the actual anniversary should have been celebrated, but because of pandemic-related uncertainty, the board didn’t plan for a special celebration. Instead, it kept things simple.
“We weren’t really able to determine whether we were going to have a fair until March of last year,” Trimble said. “A lot of what we had booked originally in 2020 just kind of carried over into 2022. So, it was just a matter of picking up where we left off.”
Any fears of lost momentum evaporated when crowds returned in droves.
“I guess everybody was just waiting to get back out, so we’re hoping we can ride the wave a little bit longer and have a good year again.”
Anniversary expansion
To make that happen, the board turned up the heat on this year’s schedule. In addition to regular competitions, the midway and horse show, there will be an extra day of entertainment on the main stage, capped off with award-winning Manitoba country music artists, Doc Walker, on the second evening of the fair.
Organizers also added categories to the domestic exhibition and are introducing competitions specifically targeted toward the 150-year milestone.
For the kids, the petting zoo returns and there will be magic shows, a reptile area and a dinosaur play area. For adults, the fair will add a beer garden.
“And, for the first time in 15 years, we’re going to have a parade again,” said Trimble. “We’ll see if that becomes an annual thing again or whether it remains a one-off for the anniversary.”
The fair runs July 7-9 at the Portage Exhibition Grounds in Portage la Prairie.
