From the 1860s to today

Origins: The 1860s through the Fall Shows

The Agricultural Society’s roots on Amherst Island reach back to the 1860s, though its formal legal status in those early decades is unclear. The earliest legislation we can point to is the 1906–1908 Acts Respecting Agricultural Societies, Horticultural Societies, Agricultural Association in the Province of Ontario — but the Island’s fall shows were already well-established long before any of that paperwork existed.

By the fall of 1884, the Society was running a show substantial enough to draw a Kingston Whig reporter across the water. “Nearly all the residents of the tight little island gathered in the village,” the paper reported on October 17. The exhibition of stock was held in a large field, with grain, roots, and fruits shown in the drive house of the secretary, W. H. Montray.

That year’s show drew fine roadsters and general-purpose teams, prize-winning cattle from John Marshall and Major Patterson, sheep from the Patterson brothers, and even a display of horse-shoes, hasps, and hinges from Island blacksmiths Sidney Pringle and John Brown — “which shows these useful tradesmen to be up to the times.” The ladies’ department filled the town hall, and the reporter concluded that the exhibition showed “a commendable improvement over its predecessors.”

Five years later, on October 3, 1889, the fair ran in heavy rain, but Islanders “made up their minds that they would not be kept away.” The steamer Hero brought visitors from up the Bay and from Bath. That year’s standout was “Donald Dinnie,” a stallion from Allen and Filson whose offspring swept the yearling and suckling colt classes. “He seems to be the favorite horse in this part of the country,” the Napanee Express observed.

By October 1898, the fair at Stella had become a full-blown event. “The Village of Stella resembled some busy city thoroughfare,” the Kingston Whig reported. Visitors came from Napanee and beyond aboard the Hero. “The island has a reputation for the fertility of its soil and the industry of its inhabitants,” the paper noted — “which would at once account for the fine exhibit displayed.”

Through the War Years

By October 1941, with the Second World War underway, the fair carried on despite heavy rain. The sports program was called off except for one horse race, but dinner was served in Victoria Hall by the Ladies Aid of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, and the Women’s Institute ran a booth for war savings stamps. The prize list that year introduced new categories for “ladies’ work connected with war work, knitting and the making of clothing for shipment overseas.” A dance followed in the evening, well attended. The Amherst Islander ferry made hourly trips and a special run after the dance.

Five years later, in September 1946, the post-war show reflected a changing Island. Secretary-treasurer H. W. Miller told the Whig-Standard that the horse exhibit — once the centrepiece of the fair — had shrunk noticeably. “Many of our island residents,” he explained, “are doing a great deal of their farm work with motorized equipment, and no longer need a large number of horses.” The Girl Garden Brigade, run under the Ontario Department of Agriculture, was a new feature that year, with Jean Miller taking first honours.

Incorporation, and a Long Quiet

In 1986, the Society was formally incorporated as an Agricultural Society under the Province of Ontario’s Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act, giving it status as a non-profit corporation without share capital. But the momentum of those earlier fall shows had long since faded. For several decades, the Society was inactive — present on paper, but no longer gathering the Island the way it once had.

The 2018 Revival

In 2018, a group of Islanders set out to bring the Society back. They drafted a new constitution, elected a fresh Board of Directors, and signed up 36 founding members. The immediate goal was simple and practical: make the fairground available to the community again.

What followed was a steady run of improvements — better access to the fairground, a new parking area, electrical service, equipment storage, and, most recently, the multipurpose Pavilion that now anchors the property. Each project built on the one before it, funded through a mix of member contributions, grants, sponsorships, and a lot of volunteer labour.

The Society Today

The Society is incorporated under the Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act of Ontario, with a constitution adopted in its current form on March 21, 2021. Our purposes, drawn from the Act, are:

• To research the needs of the agricultural community and develop programs to meet them
• To hold agricultural exhibitions and competitions for which prizes may be awarded
• To encourage the beautification of the agricultural community
• To support and provide facilities that enrich rural life

The Board consists of nine directors, elected from the membership to three-year terms. Today the Society’s work takes many forms: the Saturday Market, the Pavilion, the Summer Music Festival, Canada Day celebrations, and the quieter but essential work of board meetings, grant applications, and stewardship of the fairgrounds. Agricultural exhibitions and beautification projects are on the horizon.