Barrie Fair

It being the 'lean season' for Central Ontario urban exploring as I had mentioned in the last post, I stayed close to home on this one. With deep snow and a frigid minus 30 degree Celcius, who can blame me.

I had decided to drop in for a quick scout which produced an unanticipated Point-Of-Entry in short time. This turned into one of those rushed running photo shoots as I was sketched out with an event that was occurring in the building.

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On an autumn day in 1853, the crowds gathered from corners of central Ontario and beyond to Barrie for the very first Barrie Fair and Horse Show. Area farmers took this opportunity to show their produce and livestock, while ladies brought their preserves, baking and sewing. It was a time to gather and exchange ideas, practices, renew friendships and agressive recruiting tactics by the militant local 4-H Club.

In this image above, circa 1890's, a parade of new ploughshares and other agricultural implements pose in front of the City Hall & Market building. This provides evidence of early Barrie's strong agricultural roots.

In the early days, the fair did not have permanent home. Even until the 1940's, the fair was held at Barrie's Market Square and the plowing match held on a nearby farm field. In the early 1950's, the Board of Directors of the Barrie Agricultural Society decided to purchase property just outside town. This property would soon hold an enviable location at the intersection of the newly built Highway 400 and Essa Road.

On January 24, 2007, Paul Timpano, president of the Barrie Agricultural Society announced the sale of the 38-acre property to a Toronto-based real estate investment firm, Osmington Inc for $33 million cash. The property is to be developed into a large retail complex sometime after the 2008 fair.

Given this, I decided to make tracks down to the fairground and check out some of the fugly-a$$ buildings before it met the business end of a wrecking ball.

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Here, one can see that krazy korn mascot, 'Huskeroo' madly dancing his sweet niblets off on top of the racetrack's grandstand roof.

. . . go Huskeroo !

Not a creature was stirring,
not even a cow.
Yippie yi Ohhhhh
Yippie yi yaaaaay
Ghost Riders in the barns.

Empty seats watch the atomic explosion outside.

The grandstand is divided into two; steerage, and LLBO licensed.

This is the 'other side' of the glass, where beer flowed freely and thick clouds of tobacco filled the space.

I remember when I first moved to barrie, I dropped a few bucks on a lame horse. I drowned my sorrow in a domestic beer here.

The wall-to-wall in the licensed section is highly adorned with a fantabulously designed fabric.

Upon closer inspection, one could see the stained evidence that Mr. Spilly-Pants frequented this track. It also smelled like an ashtray.

There also was evidence of a rushed meal, most likely taken by the catering staff before an event. The sour cream on the potatoe was . . well, sour.

A large portion of the second floor is now home to 'The Barrie Victory Centre' church which, according to their website are "restoring the fire of God".
I would like to know whether the landlord and the local fire marshall know about this.

I have until some time until after next year's fair to revisit and do a proper exploration of this place. One objective is to find my way up to the announcer's booth, fire-up the P/A system and be a human boombox.

Huskeroo scared generations of kids at the Barrie fair. Why? Because he looks like the radiated afterbirth of a Martian grudge-fvck.

Please provide comments as to what you think happened to this mascot.