WEST CARLETON – While The Best Little Fair in Canada is taking a COVID-19 forced year off, the spirit of the Carp Fair will be alive and well as a showcase will feature the best of the community in homecraft and agriculture.

The heart of the Carp Fair has always been its devotion to agriculture. While the midway is great, the music is awesome, the events are amazing, you can’t go to the fair without visiting the Exhibit Hall and taking in a livestock show.

“Many don’t realize the midway, vendors, and all the food and various shows around each year’s fair may be growing but the real heart of the Carp Fair is the Homecraft and the Agricultural Division shows and competitions,” Homecraft President Patricia Boyd released in a statement. “They are the roots of this truly rural fall fair. No other fair in Canada does a better job of showcasing the traditions of homemaking and farming.”

And that’s what the Carp Fair Showcase will be all about.

“This year presents a unique opportunity to show the traditional Carp Fair,” Boyd said. “While there won’t be visitors or spectators, within 2020 Showcase the 4H Club will be running two days of competitions and many of the normal range of homecraft judging will be happening.”

To bring it to the wider community, the Carp Agricultural Society will put all the Homecraft Division’s entries and the winners in special photo galleries on the Carp Fair website and featuring many in posts on their Facebook page.  

All the usual homecraft competition categories will be available for judging and the list is huge. I cursory glance around your home right now, and undoubtedly you will find something you can enter in a competition.

The men’s Agricultural Division will be streamed live on Facebook including all the livestock competitions taking place on Friday evening (Sept. 25), and Saturday (Sept. 26).

“We want as many area residents as possible to enter this year,” Boyd said. “The competition is for everyone.  As a little incentive, we are going to give some Carp Fair swag to the exhibitor with the most entries.”

Entries in the Homecraft section can be done online now at http://carpfair.ca/2020-showcase/. Carp Agricultural Society volunteers will be accepting entries ​outside the seniors’ building and agricultural hall in a drive-through, drop off fashion.

Drop-off times are ​Saturday, Sept. 19 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.​ (after the Carp Farmers’ Market), and ​Sunday, Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon. Face masks are required to drop off and pick up entries.

The Carp Fair will also be hosting an online auction during the scheduled week of the annual event. from Sept. 21 to Sept. 28. Auction items will be available for viewing and bidding on the Carp Fair’s Facebook page during that time. If you would like to donate an item for auction you can contact the Carp Fair auction organizers here: carpfairauctions@gmail.com.