Royal Winter Fair

The royal winter fair is a great place to explore agriculture, especially for city- dwellers. Giant squashes, million year old cheeses and horses groomed within an inch of their lives are all common sights there.  But for the kids, the best part is usually the petting zoo. Or maybe not.

Arriving at the fair, this is where I was headed to get away from the crowd and meet some farm animals, but what I found was a little disturbing. Hoards of kids were hanging off the fence of a tiny pen, sticking their fingers through with fistfuls of pellets. At 3 dollars a Dixie cup, the pellets had mixed reactions from the animals. Some were completely disinterested, but most of the goats fought for them or hung back, their greedy square pupils fixated on the food. One small boy began to cry because the animals were swarming him through the fence. One father in the crowd tells me that his little girl Alicia, (age 7 from Toronto) was nipped by the greedy animals.

Fighting through the petting zoo seemed daunting, so I moved on in search of a less competitive scene. In the back section of the fair I found what I was looking for. There was a nearly empty room with rows of animal cages, mainly sheep and goats. I made my way through all of them, petting all the animals that were remarkably willing to be mauled. My favourite by far would have to be this very woolly sheep, called a Romney sheep. (I kid you not.) “Originally bred in England, they prefer cooler climates because they have a lot thicker wool than other sheep, “An animal caretaker explained. With a twinkle in his eye he opened the cage and allowed us to get up close to this scruffy looking creature. A 9 year old boy, Kevin, later joined us to look at the sheep. He was fascinated with it, but refused to touch it because it was “kind of disgusting”. Though a little unkempt, the Romney sheep is a refreshing sight after all of the perfectly groomed animals at the petting zoo and in the shows.  Next time you’re at the Royal Winter Fair I urge you to check out the “real” animals in the back to get a feel for the way they are in their natural habitat.