There are assignments that when you have been at the job of journalist for more than 30-years become rather reflective events.
Such was the case last week attending a press conference in Yorkton to announce work was about to begin to demolish the Yorkton Exhibition Grandstand, replacing the core seating with new.
Now you might wonder how a grandstand demolition would cause reflection, but like many in the city I have spent a lot of time watching events on the old wooden plank seating.
In fact, in my personal case the memories go back years before I ever moved here to take up a position as a reporter at the then Enterprise newspaper.
My first memories of this city come from the days my dad showed livestock at the summer fair, and I tagged along, eventually taking to the show-ring myself.
If you attend summer fairs, and for communities across the Canadian Prairies they have long been part of the local culture, grandstands are a central fixture of the events.
People gather at the grandstand for various fair events; over the years in Yorkton that has included quarter horse racing, rodeos, concerts, motorcycle trick riding, standardbred racing, chuckwagon racing and the list goes on.
Attending the fair for years with livestock when that was still a big part of the event, dad and I watched a lot of events on the grandstand in Yorkton; in Melfort, Prince Albert, Connaught, Golburn, Saskatoon and Nipawin. Those performances part of my summer holidays, as it would be for many readers too.
There were memories made at Invermay Fair and Kelliher and others too, the fairs always seeming central to our lives.
In my case though, I met a gal at Yorkton fair one summer, and grandstand performances were courting events, and after marriage, something we did together.
We eventually parted ways, but two great kids suggest we did all right when together, and that old grandstand that is 小蓝视频 torn down is part of those memories.
As it has been for myself and Mrs. number two as well. So many Friday evenings spent watching the standardbreds pace before adjourning to the backstretch to mingle with friends made on the fairgrounds.
Funny thing, my second wife and I had our first outing at the fairgrounds too, taking in a concert a the Agripavilion, and since we have attended too many events at the fairgrounds to even remember.
A new grandstand is needed, and it will serve the city well, just as they do in communities across the country, with fairs 小蓝视频 a huge part of that heritage, but I doubt the new one will quite have the magic of the old one for me.
