Prince Edward Island
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Eastern Kings Exhibition View the Exhibition Association's official site here.
While Souris is known for its association with the sea, it is also the hub for the local agricultural community. The late George A. Leard was born in Souris in 1909 and was a merchant and a historian. He wrote this descriptive article of the first Souris Exhibition in 1959. He passed away suddenly in Souris in 1967. "On Wednesday, July 29, 1840 the Souris Fair was held according to plan, when many people attended, some to see the fun, am. a few to make it." So a Charlottetown paper of more than 100 years ago commenced its write-up of the grand-daddy of all Exhibitions and Fairs ever held in Kings Co., sponsored by the Souris Farming Club. It was mainly a show of livestock, and modelled on Fairs in the Old Country, an occasion for horse trading, buying a new cow, or selling some lambs. There were no buildings to house the Fair, no tickets, no prizes. Prices were of course in Pounds, Shillings and Pence; It is difficult to say what a pound in 1840 Prince Edward Island currency would be worth in present day dollars, but our currency at that time was based not on sterling but on Halifax currency which quoted a pound at $4.00 either Spanish or American silver, and the shilling at 20 cents.  No poultry, butter, cheese, flowers, fruit, or fancy work graced this first fair; women seemed to have little to do with the exhibits. Their one item was homespun cloth. The record states "There were upwards of 100 horses in the fair and A CARTLOAD OF HOMESPUN!!, also several pieces of that useful article, some of it sold." A cartload of homespun! Modern fairs will see more than a hundred horses, more than that of cattle, more than thirty sheep, but never in this or in the next hundred and twenty years will they ever see a cartload of homespun on fair grounds. Big fat, fuzzy webs of undressed homespun, the sturdy home-fashioned product of wheel and loom which clothed the farmer on Sunday and Monday in 1840. Some of the webs, from 20 to 40 yards, would be in the popular gray made from gray sheep's wool; others would be blue dyed with indigo, or black dyed from logwood; still other "pieces" would be various mixtures. The price of homespun is not given in the newspaper account. Eastern Kings Exhibition
 Copyright Waldron H. Leard |
