ABRAM-VILLAGE – July 26, 2022 – The exhibition portion of the 2022 Evangeline Area Agricultural Exhibition and Acadian Festival will be special this year as a new 104-foot long by 44-foot wide multi-purpose center will be inaugurated. The official opening will take place on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 1 p.m. in front of the centre’s entrance.
The new building will be able to accommodate all kinds of activities at various times of the year, but during the weekend of the show, it will be used to house the horses that will be on site for various competitions. In fact, the beautiful building, whose front and back gables are in the colors of the Acadian flag, is installed on the same site as the former horse barn.
Other new attractions this year include a « strength tester » built by Melvin and Jean Gallant of St. Timothy. It is a vertical device with a bell near the top. One has to hit the bottom of the device with a mallet as hard as possible to try to make the bell ring, just as was seen at old-time carnivals and exhibitions.
Another new feature that will revisit the past will be a talk entitled “Photos of Yesteryear of the Evangeline Region” by historian Georges Arsenault on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 1:30 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 4 at 3:30 p.m., in the Founders’ Hall. On Sunday, before the closing show, several images and videos from the 119 years of the Agricultural Exhibition and the 51 years of the Acadian Festival will be shown on the big screen in the Evangeline Recreation Centre.
EVALUATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
All regular facets of the Agricultural Exhibition are back this year, except for the poultry judging. Provincial restrictions prohibit these competitions to prevent the transmission of avian flu.
The Small Animal Farm will be open all weekend (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday to Sunday). The Founders’ Hall and Artisans’ Hall will open Friday at 2 p.m. and will be open from 10 a.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. on Sunday. Culinary demonstrations will be held Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m. Chefs from the Clammin’ N’ Jammin’ evening will also provide culinary demonstrations Saturday at noontime.
On Friday, Sept. 2, starting at 9 a.m., judging of grains, roots, vegetables, fruit, flowers, arts, crafts and domestic sciences will take place. In the afternoon, 4-H projects will be evaluated.
A draft horse show takes place Saturday morning; followed by the judging of rabbits. The PEI Provincial Holstein Show, considered the most important competition of the exhibition, kicks off at 9 a.m. In the afternoon, the pre 4-H classes as well as the 4-H rabbits will be judged.
On Sunday, there will be light horse and pony judging in the morning and beef judging in the afternoon. This will be followed by a craft sale and craft demonstrations in the afternoon. Finally, at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, the famous « Cow Patty Bingo » will be held.
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PHOTO 1: Jeanne Gallant, president of the Evangeline Area Agricultural Exhibition and Acadian Festival, proudly presents the new multifunctional center with its Acadian flag-colored gables, which will be inaugurated Sept. 3rd.
PHOTO 2: Melvin and his son Jean Gallant show off the new strength testing machine they built. They invite everyone to come and try to ring the bell.
For more information, please contact
Jeanne Gallant
President
Evangeline Area Agricultural Exhibition and Acadian Festival
Residence: 902-854-3287
Cell: 902-432-0809
E-mail: expositionfestival@gmail.com or gallant.jeanne22@gmail.com