Hundreds of residents and guests celebrated the Thanksgiving weekend at the 163rd annual Burford Fall Fair which ran from Saturday, October 11 through Sunday, October 12, 2025.
The event, which took place at the Burford Fairgrounds, kicked off on Saturday with ATV mud bog races, the Southwestern Ontario Tractor Pullers Association’s (SWOTPA) tractor pull, toilet bowl races, a kids pedal pull, and live entertainment from the Voices of SiNG iT, as well as Joan Minnery’s STOMPtastic line dancers.
Like any well-rounded fair, guests spent their time enjoying classic midway rides and games, braving the new haunted barn, exploring the various display exhibits, and grabbing a bite to eat from one of the on-site food trucks.
On Sunday, the festivities continued with a morning horse show, several Meet the Keepers Wildlife presentations, a chainsaw competition, the car show and a Thanksgiving dinner.
Other highlights included the RC crawler trials, a stuffie competition, the baby show, a kids pedal pull and the princess show.
Throughout the entirety of the weekend, youngsters also got the chance to enjoy their first pony-ride, discover new animals at the petting zoo, sit for a fun face paint design or visit the kids play area.
“Our goal is to make this a place where families can have fun, feel safe and enjoy some time together,” said Gayle Barker, a director with the Burford Agricultural Society. “We always try to have plenty of fun activities going on for the families and we really try to make it so it doesn’t cost them a fortune to do so.”
The director said that’s exactly what makes the Burford Fair so special.
“It’s a fair that’s really centered all around the community, you know? It’s put on by the community, for the community and I think that’s what makes it so special,” said Baker. “The people who have moved away, they come home for Thanksgiving and then they come to the fair because it’s really become a little tradition.”
Jill Bouchard, who grew up in Burford, said she’s been attending the fair since childhood and now enjoys bringing her own children.
“I’ve probably been coming to the fair for 40 years now,” she said. “My family is from Burford, and even though I don’t live here anymore, my parents still do, and so we always come to the fair every year with my brother and his kids as well.”
Bouchard said that while the fair has changed over the years, she appreciates that the organizers still go out of their way to maintain a family atmosphere.
“It’s great for the kids. They always have so much good stuff going on like the petting zoo and the different crafts; the girls just recently finished carving pumpkins so that was nice” she said. “I also liked that they had line dancing today too, that was really fun too. I also enjoy that when you come back to the fair, it’s like a little reunion. I feel like I spend half the day running into people from high school and catching up because I haven’t seen them since the last fair.”
Baker later added that while putting on a fair always takes a lot of planning and preparation, she’s grateful for everyone who helps make it possible.
“This event is run by an army of volunteers and we couldn’t ask for a better group of people. Between the fair board, the various committees, and the student volunteers, they make this all happen,” she said. “Even the people who are volunteering to look after our gates; they put in so many long hours, sometimes in yucky weather too so we’re very blessed to have them. It takes so much hard work to put on this event and we couldn’t be more grateful for all those volunteers and our financial sponsorships who make it all happen.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
