Inside the Prince Albert Exhibition’s main hall sits an estimate of 250 community-submitted flowers, vegetables, and other floral arrangements for the Prince Albert Exhibition’s Agriculture and Horticulture Committee’s exhibition.
Barry Swanson, a member of the Prince Albert Exhibition’s Agriculture and Horticulture Committee, gave a few examples of categories people can enter, one of which is their newest division.
“We have about over 100 categories that people can enter. It might be flowers, it might be cut flowers, it might be a house plant, it might be vegetables,” explained Swanson. “And this year we have a new one. A new class which is called the ‘Biggest and the Best in the Garden.’”
The ‘Biggest and the Best in the Garden’ category features either the biggest, longest, or heaviest vegetables which displayed the longest onion scape, biggest pumpkin, biggest potato, biggest squash, and other super-sized vegetables.
“We just like to add more opportunities for people to exhibit. So if you’re not a very good gardener, you can still grow a big zucchini, you can still grow a big potato, you can still grow a big tomato. So it’s just an opportunity for people to add more things in the exhibition,” said Swanson.
Alongside a spot inside the hall, the top three participants in each category win cash prizes.
“There’s no entry cost, and there’s prize money, so we’re supported by sponsors,” he explained. “Our judge came from Saskatoon this year. She will go around and look at each exhibit. And if there’s three people putting in green tomatoes, she’ll pick which is the best tomato, and it’ll be first, second, and third.”
The exhibit has existed since the beginning of the fair.
“The Prince Albert exhibition used to be an agricultural society—Prince Albert Agricultural Society. And this was a main part of the fair. The vegetables, the fruit, the flowers, the horses, the cows, sometimes sheep, sometimes chickens were a big part of the fair,” said Swanson.
Joan Stieb, a fellow member of the committee, added this was an important part of the fair due to its historical significance.
“The photography and this, are some of the things that are the original things you would have seen in the very beginning, when the fair started, they had people bringing in sheaves of grain and flowers and vegetables and stuff to show,” she said. “And they also used to have sewing and cooking, but they dropped those things. So we’re very pleased that they’ve decided to keep on with this.
Besides the biggest vegetable category, they also featured a Roughriders-themed class, which featured arrangements of white and green flowers, as well as an “underwater” class where flowers are placed in a vase and submerged in water.
“We have an excellent show this year. We’ve got six new exhibitors. We’ve got a great variety of classes,” said Swanson. “Feedback’s been great. People love coming in here.”
Stieb added to the positive feedback.
“People like to see it and reminisce about the type of flowers that they grew. And then other people want to know the names and look at what they might try next year. And then we always have people who see this and want to come back as an exhibitor,” she said.
The Prince Albert Exhibition Agriculture and Horticulture exhibit will be displayed until Aug. 9 inside the Main Hall.
