MORE DETAILS ANNOUNCED AS VIRTUAL WESTERN FAIR APPROACHES

Posted Date:

Friday, September 4, 2020

London, September 4, 2020 – The first ever virtual Western Fair is now just a week away from kicking off and organizers are looking forward to keeping the fair’s spirit alive through a combination of augmented reality (A.R.) and virtual experiences designed to educate and entertain from September 11-20.

Local company EXAR Studios has been busy preparing the Engage A.R. App that is designed to bring the Fair to the fairgoers. The App will be available for download on Tuesday, September 8th, just in time for the virtual fair.

Several A.R. experiences have been created to recreate elements of favourite fair traditions including animals, midway rides and games, a horticultural experience and live entertainment, just to name a few. EXAR has even created avatars of longtime Fair participants Cowboy Fred and Doo Doo The Clown who will help walk people through some of the fair experiences available on the App.

Once downloaded, the Engage App can be used in one of approximately 30 designated locations throughout the city and some surrounding communities. The locations are primarily parks and large outdoor settings giving people plenty of room to safely enjoy the A.R. experiences. The complete list of locations is available at www.westernfair.ca

Many terrific community sponsors have come on board to help put on the virtual fair (listed below) and their support of the Western Fair is immeasurable.

The annual Agri-Food School Tours are also happening virtually this year and more than 2,000 children from across North America have already registered. Western Fair has teamed up with Growing Chefs Ontario, Farm & Food Care Ontario, Ontario Federation of Agriculture, AgScape and several of the province’s top commodity groups to deliver V-PODS (Virtual Places Of Discovery) where participants can learn about each industry through videos, activities, Q & A and more.

Many of the creative arts competitions will be wrapping up soon with the winners to be unveiled during the Fair and on the Engage App. The Rise2Fame competition will also showcase its finalists on Engage’s State-Of-The-Art virtual stage. Semi finalists will be featured over the opening weekend with the finalists taking center stage the next week and the winners to be announced on Friday, September 18.

Fair foodies will have a number of ways to enjoy this year’s virtual Western Fair. A Taste Of The Fair, Sponsored by Roy Inch & Sons, will happen as part of Park It At The Market on Wednesday, September 16th. A variety of food vendors will be on site that day including the Western Fair ‘Graze N Go’ food mobile which will feature the winning selection from the Will It Deep Fry? contest happening now on social media.

Western Fair has teamed up with Farco Entertainment and Ye Old Fudge Pot to create a Fair Food Box, full of your favourite Fair treats, delivered to your door. The boxes will include caramel corn, candy floss, fudge, beer nuts, candy apple, funnel cake, commemorative balloons and more! They will be available to order online beginning Friday, September 11 and more details on how to purchase your Fair Food Boxes will be announced online in the coming days.

For those fairgoers already looking ahead to the 2021 Western Fair, advanced tickets are now on sale. Purchasers can save 35% by buying their 2021 Super Passes in advance – plus the first 500 advanced ticket purchases will also receive a Free front-of-the-line pass for next year’s fair.

A selection of Fair merchandise will also be available for purchase to help keep the spirit alive. Items include t-shirts, baby bibs, backpacks, sunglasses and stuffed llamas, all branded with Western Fair’s iconic arched logo which was the recent winner of the ‘Favourite Fair Logo’ social media contest. Merchandise will be available for purchase at the Taste Of The Fair event at The Market on Wednesday, September 16th as well as Saturday, September 19th.

With so much happening, be sure to visit www.westernfair.ca for more details.