Exhibitors from Prince Edward Island continue to earn accolades at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Prince Edward Island is well represented at the Royal, from those who are making their first trip, to one who is returning for the first time in 50 years.
GIANT VEGETABLES
Prince Edward Island’s best entries in the giant potatoes by weight competition ended in a tie for fifth place for Cecil Godfrey, North Wiltshire and Robert Vessey, York whose entries each weighed 2 lbs, 9 ozs. Trevor MacDonald of Murray River was close behind with a spud weighing in at 2 lb, 4 oz. The class was won by an entry tipping the scale at 3 lb, 10 oz.
In the most unusually shaped vegetable, Cecil Godfrey placed third with his potato entry.
In the rutabaga division, Robert Vessey took a red ribbon in the 4-5 inch category. He also placed second in the 5-6 inch section and ended up with the Reserve Champion Rutabaga.
CHAROLAIS
Wayne Crosby, New Haven exhibited two entries from his Havenview herd of Charolais and although he faced strong competition he was able to pull out a seventh and eighth in the same January heifer class with Crosby’s Rosabella and Crosby’s Mr. Rao 550R.
ISLANDERS AT THE FAIR
Sterling MacRae is attending this year’s Royal for the first time in many years. He commented that he hasn’t been to the Fair for fifty years when he helped show Ayrshires with the late Arthur MacRae. Asked about the show, he says “everything’s different and it’s gotten so much more commercial – everyone is trying to sell something.” Nonetheless, he seemed to be enjoying his visit.
Alex Docherty, New Haven who has had entries in the Potato Division for some years and his wife Valerie are making their first trip to the Royal Winter Fair. After seeing the displays, Alex says he has “caught the fever” and is not going to sleep until he has won a Grand Champion for his potatoes. He won a red ribbon for his Dakota Pearl variety at the 2005 Show and already has ideas on what he wants to enter next year.
A special young lady, Stevie Murphy of Stanhope has accomplished something that many of us could only dream of doing. She made the cut of ten qualifiers for the small Pony Hunter Class where she and her pony Pirouette (Perry) earned a seventh place ribbon – quite an achievement for her first time at the Show. The nine year old showed she is a dedicated rider with an early start of 5:30 A.M. on her competition day. Her pony eats “really good” hay from the farm of Gordon MacBeath in Marshfield.