Scarboro Fair - 1900 - Advertisement - p 2

The Scarboro Fair was an annual

agricultural show An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which selective breeding, breed ...

that took place in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada—now part of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

—during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century.

Background

During the years the fair was active, Scarborough (then spelled Scarboro) was a small agricultural community. As of 1900, its population was just over 3,700.

History

The fair was hosted by the Scarborough Agricultural Society, founded on January 1, 1844. The first fair was held on October 18, 1844 on the grounds of Joshua Sisley's Hotel, at

Danforth Road Danforth Avenue (informally also known as the Danforth) and Danforth Road are two historically-related arterial streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Danforth ''Avenue'' is an east-west street that begins in Old Toronto at the Prince Edward ...

and

Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...

. Sisley, apparently an agriculturalist himself, continued to host the fair in October in the years following; it later moved to taverns and hotels nearby. The last fair was held in 1936, likely in Agincourt. The fair was evidently a rather substantial concern by the late 19th century. The 1895 fair, held in Woburn, distributed prizes totalling $1,110—over $ today. A teenage commentator in the ''Farmer's Advocate'', a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based magazine that published until the mid-20th century, had this rather dismissive assessment of the 1911 fair:

It is only a small country fair, but it was largely attended this year, and there were nearly eight hundred people there. The grounds are nearly four miles east of Toronto. Big tents are used instead of buildings.

Notes

Sources

* {{Cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9dMOAAAAYAAJ, title=The Township of Scarboro, 1796–1896, date=1896, publisher=William Briggs, editor-last=Boyle, editor-first=David, location=Toronto, language=en Annual events in Canada Agricultural fairs in Canada Events in Toronto History of Toronto Scarborough, Ontario Recurring events established in 1844