Prince George Exhibition president Nancy Loreth will be celebrating two milestone anniversaries when the annual fair opens on Wednesday.
Not only will she be presiding over the 100th edition of the Prince George Agricultural & Historical Association's festival, she's also reflecting on her visit to the fair 50 years ago -- it was the first date with her future husband Bob.
"The grounds certainly weren't what they are now, they were all gravel," she recalled. "I remember him showing me the beef and and that time I was a city girl and I'm going 'Ugh.' It wasn't too impressive because I didn't know anything about beef."
Now Loreth lives on a beef farm and is intimately involved the planning for this year's PGX. She has spent the months leading up to the fair putting together a special centennial exhibit. Divided into decades, the display chronicles the fair's history, the development of the Prince George region and key moments in world history over the past century.
"They were very good at taking photos in 1912," Loreth said. "Which is very nice for us now because a lot of years we don't have photos."
Highlights include a hat from one of the fair's founders, R.J. Blackburn, a re-created gas station from 1920 and a chuck wagon from the 1960s.
The centennial exhibit shows how the event has changed and evolved over the years, but general manager Terri McConnachie said the fair has never deviated from its original mandate.
"Organizers know what parts to keep the same, because it's tradition," she said. "It will always be a partnering of the rural and urban communities, that's always been the mainstay."
All the old PGX favourites like concerts, the Bull Riders Ball and the tractor parade are back this year, but some new additions to the fair's lineup include barrel racing, gymkhana and a saloon for all five days of the event. Also pig and duck races return after a four-year absence.
McConnachie said one of the can't-miss events this year is the fireworks display set for Friday night, produced by Starlight FX.
"It's going to be the largest fireworks show we've seen in northern B.C.," she said. "We've been planning this a long time and you'll be able to see it right from the fairgrounds."
Loreth is looking forward to a trip down memory lane at the Legacy Banquet on Thursday. Past directors, staff and volunteers have been invited for a reunion.
"We've got managers that have worked with us through (the years), presidents, directors. R.J. Blackburn's family is coming -- the whole family," she said. "It's just going to be a whole celebration and we're very excited about it."
Preparations on site have been going full swing for over a week and McConnachie said things are going smoothly. The midway was set to arrive late Monday night and by Tuesday afternoon it's expected to be fully installed.
Tuesday will be the busiest day for the volunteers and staff as they rush to get the final pieces in place, but McConnachie said they have the preparations down to a science.
"It's really a ballet, everything just comes and everyone does their job and it gets done," she said.
Volunteers like Bruce Perrin are the backbone of the event. He began helping out at the exhibition more than three decades ago when his children were involved in 4-H events. Now he and Amos Culham, another longtime volunteer, are jacks-of-all-trades.
"There's always little things," he said of the problems that pop up during the fair set up. "Basically Amos and I are troubleshooters and if something comes along Nancy yells and and we go fix it."
Both Perrin and McConnachie said their honoured to be part of the 100th anniversary and expect this year's fair to be special.
Last year the PGX broke attendance records with 46,700 people through the gates and McConnachie has no doubt it will set another new mark this year.
"We'll be doing that again," she said. "We have invited the entire northern half of our province to come and join our celebration here in Prince George and help us celebrate the amazing achievement."
