Phil Wright is confident the Shuswap Agricultural Association (SAA) and Salmon Arm Fair will continue to be staples of the community for years to come.
After about three decades serving with the association (formerly Salmon Arm and Shuswap Lake Agricultural Association), including a long stint as board president, Wright will be formally resigning at the board's annual general meeting next month.
"God I鈥檓 going to be 83 or 84 鈥� the best before date is long gone," laughed Wright, who announced his resignation at an SAA board meeting on Thursday evening, Feb. 6. Wright was one of several board members who said they would be resigning. While uncertain what the board will look like after the AGM, Wright said he is not concerned for its future.
"It will survive in different ways鈥�," said Wright, noting the board and annual fair have weathered both the Second World War and, more recently, the COVID pandemic. "It's an event, a local event that is always looked forward to and there are so many creative people who like to put their things in to compete and have bragging rights 鈥� I'm sure it鈥檚 going to survive. It will just be, maybe a little different shape that we have to go with."
Unable to provide an exact date of when he first became involved with the SAA, Wright said it was back in the '90s when he was an equestrian delegate for the Southern Interior Dressage Association.
"We were using the fairgrounds a fair bit for horse shows at that time, dressage competitions," said Wright. "There鈥檇 be at least two shows a year. We felt one of our group should be there to advise of what our requirements were and looking out and offering help with organizing the competition arenas and the equipment we needed down there, and the stalls and all that stuff that goes with it."
At that time, Wright continued, there were a lot of different folks representing different groups involved.
"There really was a cross-section of the community that would come together for the fair board," said Wright, noting his agricultural interests go back to when he was a member of the former 4-H Salmon Valley Potato Club.
Wright said the fair's entertainment was different back in the '90s, with logging shows featuring Canoe's Fuller brothers and the Blackburn's heavy-horse pull. First and foremost, Wright said the fair was and always has been a social gathering for all the community.
Asked for fair highlights over the years, the first thing to come to mind for Wright were weather events that created the odd hiccup for the event.
"I鈥檓 thinking of that most recent electrical storm we had a while ago," said Wright. "A number of years ago we had lots of rain and we had trucks and trailers stuck on he south fairground."
Real highlights for Wright, however, involved the numerous people who have given of themselves to make the fair as success, from acts including Gil and Lori Risling who introduced the Shuswap Idol competition, to the Just For Kicks Dance Studio, to all the volunteers.
"There are individuals of course, but the service clubs, the Rotarians and Knights of Columbus and the Elks, it just goes on and on鈥� and commercial businesses like SASCU were always there to help out," said Wright.
Speaking to challenges faced by the board, a big is annual maintenance expenses, which prompted a recent vote on a motion to give the board approval to negotiate its 40-year lease for the south fairgrounds back to the city. The motion was defeated.
"When we look at it as a business plan we found that maintaining the south grounds and the current situation, social situation, it was just getting too much for us," said Wright. "We were just spending too many dollars on repair and maintenance and that sort of thing. So as a business deal, when you look at the whole picture, it was better to try and pivot away from that, shed that property back to the city, and therefore get out from under some of those bills and we could concentrate on the north side."
At a subsequent board meeting held Thursday, Feb. 6, Mayor Alan Harrison, council's representative on the SAA board, stressed the south fairgrounds are designated as park lands in perpetuity. Wright guessed those who voted against the above motion did so without knowing this.
"I think when Alan spoke last night, he certainly assured them that the south fairgrounds would not be sold off as a commercial development," said Wright. "I think that was at the back of their minds, they thought 'oh gosh, we cannot let this lease go'."
Looking ahead, Wright said there are a number of new SAA members who bring a lot of energy to the table.
"There鈥檚 a great cross section, there鈥檚 old pioneer names in there that are turning up that will bring some more energy," said Wright. "I think and they鈥檙e saying, 'gee, we should have joined this earlier.' My hope is they鈥檒l have enough expertise to maintain what they see as their vision."
Wright suggested that vision might include a new succession plan that might help sustain that energy.
"I think the reason I was around for such a long time is we didn鈥檛 really have a great succession plan in place," said Wright with a laugh. "For example, like Rotary, you can only be president for one year and then you have to move on. Well, we didn鈥檛 have that installed in the agriculture association."
After resigning, Wright assured he'd still be checking in on the goings on with the board and its ongoing efforts to promote and educate the public about the importance of the area's history and agriculture.
