Our resident journalist, Yolande House and the Ex-pert of the team, Kate Shouldice, met with one of the CCEA's directors, Dr. Don Cherry (no, not the famous sports announcer!) on Aug. 6, 1997, in the CCEA main office. Here is the interview:
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 | So how long have you been a director?
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 | I became a director in 1964.
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| You are involved with Agriculture?
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| Yes.
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| What do you do?
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| Well I did, I'm not doing much now but I did in the past. Well, I was an exhibitor, I was on the horse show committee since the first exhibition after the war, 1947. And I was the official veterinarian for the exhibition for thirty years. I was chairman of the horse show committee for about ten years. And I was president of the exhibition in 1979 and 1980.
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| What are the main changes you've seen in agriculture over the years?
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| Well, I would say the main change has been no more livestock competitive shows, no more horse shows -- they got rid of that a few years ago.
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| How long ago would you say?
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| Oh about five.
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| So 1992 then?
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| Somewhere around there. And there's no more competitive livestock shows, dairy cattle, sheep, swine, beef cattle.
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| What do they do with the animals now, just display them?
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| Well, they're on display, it's more like a zoo. They're on display in cages. In the last couple of years, they've had a little bit of a competitive showing of some beef or something, but that's all.
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| Around what time would you say they stopped the competitions?
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| About 1992.
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| So, before that they still had the horse shows?
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| Oh yeah, from the time of the inception of the exhibition, we had great horse shows.
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| You used to have the sheep sheering too, over at the Aberdeen.
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| Oh yeah.
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| Is there anything like that still going on?
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| Well, they have so-called educational displays. They have sheep sheering exhibits.
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| When did the agricultural educational displays start up?
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| Well, I would say, well no, they were doing that for quite a few years down in the Aberdeen Pavilion. The cattle were stabled in there and there was a show right in there, and there were educational demonstration put on, so the kids could see.
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| Around what time?
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| Oh, back in the, oh, the seventies or eighties.
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| That's when they would have started?
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| Yes.
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| Do you think the Ex is shifting from an agricultural fair?
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| Very definitely.
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| What do you think of that?
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| Well, it doesn't please me. I'm totally against that, but that's the way it is. I guess it'll have to be like that.
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| Do you have any theories on why it is shifting?
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| Well, the excuse they gave was that it was too difficult to get the animals into the cattle castle. They had to bring them in after midnight. That seemed to be an awful big inconvenience to some people. It was always a struggle around this exhibition with traffic and congestion. So, I think it's a bit of an excuse. Since then, they've torn down the only horse barn we had. It's gone.
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| Do you know when they tore it down?
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| Oh, just a couple of years ago. It was just back behind here (pointing to back left corner of grounds, behind Coliseum building). So we've got no accomodation for livestock.
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| What sort of fair would you describe it as now if it's not an agricultural fair?
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| Well, it's more like a carnival I'd say. Maybe I'm biased, and there's others on the board who disagree with me, but I was one of the few who fought hard to keep this an agricultural fair. But we didn't succeed.
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| Why do you think it should stay an agricultural fair?
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| Well, it's been that way for over a hundred years, and I think that it was quite popular. The mandate for this exhibition was as an agricultural fair. Now it's changed. They would give the excuse that they have some agricultural exhibits, in that they have a few cows and horses. . . . The emphasis seems to be on education. Naturally, you can go to the Experimental Farm and get that.
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| So you think that there are other avenues for this education in Ottawa?
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| Well, there's the Experimental Farm.
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| Do you remember any outstanding features of the agricultural fair in Ottawa?
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| One that comes to mind, I wasn't here at the time, but in 1912, a horse owned by Clifford Sitch jumped eight feet and one and a half inches at the exhibition and that was a world record for many years. I don't know if it's ever been beat.
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| Do you have any other memories of just interesting things that have happened?
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| Well, we've had some great horse shows in the past, some spectacular jumping. And we have top stables, not only from this area, but from Toronto, and over in the United States that come here for the Exhibition, and a great heavy horse show. Heavy horse breeds which are the Clydesdales, and Belgians. . . .
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| Do you know what's happening in regard to agriculture at this years fair?
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| Well, they're going to have livestock displays. They're going to have horse displays, but not the type of show that I would like to see. I think they could do better with a horse show.
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| What do you foresee in the future for the agriculture section of the exhibition?
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| Well, at one time we talked about acquiring land away from here, outside. Where we'd have a hundred and twenty acres, or something like that, where we could develop a lot of agriculture and so on but that seems to be going by the boards....
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| What is going on right now with the lease situation? I know it's been a big debate for a long time.
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| Well, I'm not to familiar with the lease situation, you'd have to talk to somebody else about that. Right now we're in a period where we are rent-free, for the time being. Mind you, the exhibition gave about $1,500,000 to refurbish the old Cattle Castle.
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| And you are sitting on the board of directors right now?
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| I'm on the board, yes, as a past president. And up until this year, we had voting privileges the same as anyone else, but now the past presidents don't have any voting privileges.
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| Yes, they changed the constitution this year didn't they?
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| Changed the constitution so that we're just a decoration on the board. It's not very exciting to be on it but not in it.
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| So, could you get in it again if you ran?
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| Oh I guess, but the only past president I've ever heard of trying to get in again was Joan O'Neill and she didn't get too far.
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| She used to be a president?
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| She was president for a couple of years.
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| Well, I think that answers all our questions. Any other thoughts?
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| Well, this Central Canada Exhibition was the first exhibition in Canada to involve junior farmers, young people in 4-H clubs and so on. We were pioneers in fostering junior farmers. Even during the war years, the Second World War when there was no exhibition from '42 to '47 the 4-H carried, on I think they were in Perth and some of the time and in Kemptville.
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| Thank you very much, Mr. Cherry.
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