The Mennonite Fall Fair is once again going to be a definitive autumn event in Prince George, but the look and feel will be different than the past.
"We have some new stuff going on this year," said Diane Fairservice, this year's event spokesperson. "Ding dong the Mennonite Fall Fair is dead, but say hello to the MCC Festival For World Relief. It has been reformed in a new format."
News of changes to the popular event might send some with soup and sausage addictions into shakes and anxiety. Have no fear, said Fairservice. The event is merely shrinking to make it sensible. The food is as plentiful and available as ever.
"The fair was getting to a point that it was so big and so busy that finding the volunteers we needed was no longer viable in that format. We are changing things up to make the food really the big focus," Fairservice explained. "It will be food, fun and family. The big draw for everyone was always the food, so that's going to be our priority. There will be homemade perogies, farmer sausage, home baking, apples and plums from the Okanagan, lots of produce from local gardens, homemade apple pie, and of course we will have our all-day lunch so you can get your borscht fix."
You can buy the lunch combo for $10 or pick up individual favourites as you wish, for eating on the spot or to take home.
There will be a large kids' activity area at the festival this year, as well.
It is, as always, a fundraiser for the work of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a national body that supports, through grassroots efforts in communities all over Canada, charitable causes here and around the world.
"We are focusing on how children live in developing countries. We are shining a little light on that at our event," said Fairservice. "That goes along with our festival's support of sustainable farming in Laos which is a project MCC has gotten behind as an organization."
Part of that fundraising and awareness generation is done year-round by the kids associated with the Mennonite churches of the city. My Coins Count is a child-orientated program whereby kids save up their bits of money from doing chores or selling cookies or found between the couch cushions. It goes into their own My Coins Count box and those boxes are weighed at the festival with the heaviest boxes winning prizes and all the money going into a collection to help the MCC causes.
This year's festival is being held Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Westwood Mennonite Brethren Church (2658 Ospika Blvd South). This year's volunteer coordinators are Krista Claus and Kerri Warkentin.
