Do You Remember Turkey Fairs?
Turkey Fairs was an event organized by the county or counties of Ontario as a means of giving the farmers who raised fowl, whether it is turkeys, chickens, geese or ducks, an opportunity to sell their fowl to the highest bidder. This goes back to the 1920's and 30's. It took place around the first of December. Most of the township roads were only open to horses and sleighs. The only roads plowed were the main highway that allowed the buyers to bring their trucks to town for the event.
I was born in 1925 and I well remember the preparation that went on in the neighborhood, so as to have everyone ready for that day. My dad and mother always had a lot of fowl, as did our neighbors. It was nearly impossible to do this without help. Three or four neighbors would come to our place and kill and prepare all our fowl. The men would kill the birds and pluck the feathers at the barn. The women in the house would pick pen feathers and place the fowl in a cool room, then, it was off the neighbors and does the same. The kids generally got the job of transporting the fowl from the barn to the house, and those turkeys were heavy.
Now with everyone ready, on the morning of the event, long before daylight, dad would get the horses hitched and with some hay on the sleigh rack and well covered with blankets, dad would park by the house door and the loading would begin. When finished and buffalo robes were covering the fowl, dad was off to the town of Almonte, Ontario. After a long, cold trip the farmers, with their horses and sleighs, would line up one behind the other along the main street and wait. Eventually a buyer for Canada Packers or Swifts or whoever would come along and throw back the robes and mark on a sheet of paper the price he would pay per pound for each of your different fowl. Then, when you figured all the buyers had been by, you checked your papers to see who offered the best price, and off you went, down to the low end of town where the trucks were parked with their beam scales waiting.
When you received your money, it was always first, to go pay your taxes. Then to get a few things to help us to do over the long winter: a bag of flour, a small bag of sugar, a five gallon pail of peanut butter, and last, a bottle of whiskey for Christmas.
Please note the prices per lb.; turkeys - 16 to 18 cents, geese - 9 to 91/2 cents, chickens - 8 to 10 cents, and ducks - 11 to 14 cents.
-by Murray Manson, Penticton- |
