The Ottawa Citizen - August 13, 1988.
| In 1888 it was an invitation to see the "largest woman in the world." In 1987, children chased a pen of squirming, squealing pigs. In between were Roman chariot races, "moonbeams and time machines," a teenage girl from "darkest Africa" who turns into a gorilla, the famous Zanfretta Family trapeze and highwire act, the Beach Boys, fireworks displays by a professor Hand, lawn-parking in the Glebe, and the June Taylor Dancers. Much has grown from the modest agricultural fair started 100 years ago by Ottawa Alderman William H. Lewis and Mayor Mcleod Stewart on a $10,000 budget. In those days, the Central Canada Exhibition was built around the farm: it was a celebration of quality livestock. With $7,300 in prize money the first year, farmers herded their cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens to Lansdowne Park for judging. Despite space limitations, Ex general manager Don Reid will tell you agriculture still plays an important role. In fact, in the two months before the Ex, 10 full-time staff members are busy planning the agricultural section of the fair. Back in 1888, Lansdowne Park was in an isolated part of Ottawa South and the novelty of the fair captured the public's imagination Thomas Wensley, a 22-year old visitor at the first event, was literally carried away at the Ex. A parachutist who need volunteers to hold down the hot-air balloon to be used for his jump enlisted the eager Wensley to hold one of the ropes. When the jumper yelled "let go" Wensley hung on- until the balloon rose 300 metres. A Citizen report had to say this about the fatal plunge: "Straight as a bolt he came, feet down for a couple of feet, then with a wild wave of his hands and feet, the body turned horizontal to earth." The Gov. Gen. Lord Stanley (of later hockey fame) officially opened the six-day fair Monday, Sept. 24. Gov. Gen. Jeanne Sauve is to launch the 100th this year. Gate admission was 25 cents for adults, half price for children. Today it's $4.50 for adults, $1.50 for seniors and $1 for children. Sheep and swine pens, horse and cattle stables, and other buildings were built for previous attempts at launching a regular Ottawa fair. Rioting lumberjacks put an end to the very first agricultural fair, held on the site of present-day St. Andrews Church in 1829 Bytown. In 1887 Alderman Lewis organized an agricultural association that raised $10,000 to get the first Ex off the ground. | Back then, the city's southern boundary was Gladstone Avenue, so reaching the fair grounds meant taking a 12-seat horse drawn bus or one of three paddle steamboats on the Rideau Canal. In 1903, the Coliseum building was built, and enlarged three years later. The NCC's forerunner, the Ottawa Improvement Commission, gave the Ex association $50,000 for the "beautification" of Lansdowne Park in 1910. A new machinery hall was built and $20,000 went into association coffers to finance the ever-growing fair. Highlighting technology became popular with the first display of electrical appliances in 1892. Fairgoers were introduced to the airplane in 1911 when a young pilot name Lee Hammond flew his Silver Dart over the grounds. In 1960, the Ex heralded the Jet Age with the display of the CF 104 Star Fighter. A space pavilion called "Moonbeams and Time Machines" that featured the Apollo 7 command module, Skylab, the shuttle orbiter and space photographer, brought the Ex's celebration of the skies full circle in 1974. The 1909 completion of a $100,000-grandstand with a 10,000-seat capacity meant bigger and better entertainment. But the first grandstand show in 1888 was no slouch. In the afternoon, the Zanfretta Family trapeze and highwire act were headliners. In the evening, it was a Ben-Hur style race between two chariots pulled by eight ponies. A pyrotechnics expert, Professor Hand, ended the day with a fireworks demonstration. Midway sideshows offered their own diversion. In the early years, they were almost exclusively restricted to freak shows - with fat ladies, animal deformities, snake charmers, sword swallowers and magicians. Some endured, others evolved (witness the gorilla girls of the 1970s, who mysteriously transformed into a hairy beast and then unleashed on spectators), while others simply don't keep up with the times. "People don't appreciate showing off deformities," says Reid. In 1987, the humane society protested calf-roping after complaints that it was unnecessarily cruel to animals. But the "pig scramble," a chase that pits children against 10 scurrying pigs, was held last year without complaints. While Ex attendance and revenues continue to rise in the 1980s, Reid says it's getting harder to turn a profit at Lansdowne Park. In 1987, more than 800,000 passed through the gated and a profit of $191,000 was made. Reid says the Ex will continue to grow. With 1,200 concessions, 70 midway exhibits, and a thriving agricultural show, the Ex is looking for a bigger home. Whether it's a 320-acre site in West Carleton or somewhere else, the association plans to take its show back to the country, to a remote site that will resemble Lansdowne Park a century ago. |