The 113th annual Weyburn Fair Days came to a close Sunday evening, with nearly 6,000 people going through the gates over the four days.

"Everything went incredibly well this year," said Entertainment Co-Director with the Weyburn Agricultural Society, Jeff Clay. "We were just under 6,000 people through the gates. Friday was our busiest day. I don't have an individual breakdown of the days, but Friday was a really good day, too. We had the rodeo on Friday night and the  grandstands were full for that, which was great to see and just lots of people out all week."

Patrons of this year's event saw some new features, like the reptile show and the animatronic dinosaurs, but there were also all of the pre-COVID favourites, as well, such as Knocker Balls. 

"We had everything from the Demo Derby to the Rodeo, to the Petting Zoo, the DQ Kids Rodeo," he listed. "Moody Hollow played in the beer garden Saturday night, so it was a full show again, so it's been a couple of years since we've been able to do that. But it was really good to see everybody out."

Clay noted the entire event would not be possible without their many, many volunteers.

"We can't thank our volunteers enough for everything they do. Everything from the Board of directors to the gate workers to the people that helped run the knocker balls to the rodeo people," Clay shared. "Everybody is a volunteer around there and we couldn't put this show on without them, so a great big thank you to everybody that came out and helped us put on the fair." 

He pointed out, however, that he was not at all impressed with the number of people that were mean to their volunteers this year. 

He said they work with a number of groups to put on the event, including the Soo Line Cruisers, the Deep South Barrel racers, and the Derby Club.

"There are just so many groups we work with to put that show together and everybody brings their own aspect to it and it's just amazing."

While most of the people working at the Weyburn Fair Days were volunteers, it was also an opportunity for some local young people to earn some money.

"I was just talking with the midway guys this morning and there were close to 35 local kids that were all working the midway, between the games, and the food trucks, and all that stuff with the midway," he said. "So that's really good to see lots of local kids coming out, working for a few days, getting a taste for the fair life I guess."

He said teenagers tend to attract more teenagers, so their opportunity is good for everyone, as "it's all good advertising."

As for the food, fair-goers could also take advantage of all the usual vendors and then some. 

"There was definitely lots to choose from on the food alley. I think I made it to every one of the food vendors, which I'm not sure that's something to be proud of, but they're all there, so I'm there all week too. So you try to support them all and it gives you a little bit of a different taste."

All in all, Clay said the Weyburn Fair Days is the perfect size of event for a place the size of Weyburn.

"For the size of community we are, that's that's a fantastic midway," he commented. "[Canuck Amusements]'ve been coming for years and they bring all the rides that they have to us. And I mean, we're not Regina. We're not Saskatoon, we're not Toronto. We can't expect a town this size to get a midway that has 30 rides."

He added one of the rides this year was missing, but there were 14 in all.

For more, find the Weyburn Ag Society on Facebook HERE.