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September 1, 2021
Small Town Agriculture Alive and Well in Ranfurly
Participants during the awards celebration. (Margie Axten/Submitted Photo)
Michelle Pinon News Advertiser Small town agriculture is alive and well in Ranfurly thanks to Margie Axten and a whole host of volunteers who made the 2021 Rodeo Series a great success. The four part series concluded on August 16 and there were smiles all around as participants were beaming with pride as they were recognized for their hard work and efforts over the course of the series that was held during the months of July and August. “Everyone loves the prizes, but more importantly everyone was there supporting and visiting each
other. We love to see grandparents, parents, and people in the community visiting,” stated head organizer Margie Axten. She said she couldn’t have dreamt of a better group of volunteers to work with and gave a shout out to key members of her team following the wrap up. When Axten started the rodeo series her vision was to have a low key event for children and adults to start their horse journey. Initially, she was hoping to get 20 participants. “When I started the rodeo seven years ago I wanted a place that families could go and have some fun.
Somewhere kids could start learning how the rodeos work and encouraged to keep going. We had 22 contestants the first year and this year we were up to 65. The group we have at Ranfurly is awesome. Always willing to jump in and help. This year it warmed my heart to see to bleachers full. We had grandparents, parents, aunties and community members out to watch and enjoy a visit with people they have not seen a year. Ranfurly is all about community and this brought the community together.”
Vegreville Garden Club Holds 40th Annual Horticultural Show Dianna Bibkewich Submitted The Vegreville Garden Club held their 40th annual Horticulture Show from August 4th to the 8th in the Exhibit Hall at the Agricultural Society Fairgrounds. The Garden Club held their show in conjunction with the Vegreville Fair. In honour of the 40th anniversary, the horticulture section of the Exhibit Hall was beautifully decorated in red. The show saw a total of 226 entries in various categories submitted by 17 adult and 6 junior exhibitors. The exhibitors have done an outstanding job in growing and bringing in top quality exhibits. Left: Judy Ewaniuk. Right: Colleen Albert. Below: Award winning watermelon. (Dianna Bibkewich/Submitted Photos)
Weekly Crop Market Review
This year the grand Aggregate winners are: Garden Club member Judy Ewaniuk Non-Garden Club member Colleen Albert Junior section Leah Trach The Best in Show award, donated by Orest and Fran Lazarowich, went to Dianna Bibkewich for her 8 lb. 5 oz. watermelon. We are very appreciative of the Vegreville Agricultural Society for once again supporting our Horticulture Show during the Fair. Congratulations to all the winners for their beautiful exhibits and to all the people involved in making our show a success. We would love to see more exhibitors entering in next year’s fair.
