Organizers excited about upcoming soap box derby and Paris fair

Plans for two popular Labor Day weekend events are well underway.

The 166th edition of the Paris Fair gets underway on Aug. 31 and the annual Labor Day soap box derby is set of Sept. 4.

“This will be the 67th edition of the soap box derby and our second since the pandemic,” Cory Judson, president of the Brantford District Labor Council, said. “We’re really quite excited about it.

“I know last year we were really thrilled with the turnout and we’re hoping for another good turnout this year.”

Judson said a there was a lot of energy in the area as people gathered to enjoy the event.

Organized by the labor council, the event takes place at the Icomm Drive hill at Colborne Street near the Lorne Bridge. Registration takes place at 8 am with the races starting at 9 am

Trophies will be presented by the Piston Pushers, Speed ​​Syndicate and Ontario Gassers car clubs. There will be some classic cars on display and labor council officials have been in touch with Southern Ontario Modified Association about bringing a race to the event.

The association is an open wheel four cylinder car racing club that races for fun throughout Southern Ontario. To learn more about the association visit https://www.facebook.com/p/Southern-Ontario-Modified-Association-SOMA-Old-Pro-4-Cars-100083088921123/ .

“A lot of the union locals will be there as well as a lot of community members,” Judson said. “We’re looking forward to another great event.”

To learn more about the soap box derby including the rules and regulations visit www.brantforddistrictlabourcouncil.ca/ .

Meanwhile, Amy Warner, the general manager of the Paris Agricultural Society, is “super excited” about this year’s fair which runs from Aug. 31 to Labor Day on Sept. 4. The fair includes livestock and agricultural exhibits, a midway, a demolition derby and live entertainment.

“We got all of the favorites coming back this year and I’m super-pumped up about our live entertainment,” Warner said. “We’ve got Tim Hicks on Saturday night and on the Sunday we have Josh Ross.

“Tim is from St. Catharines and Josh is from Waterdown so we’ve got great local talent appearing at this year’s fair.”

Hicks, a Canadian country music singer and songwriter, has been nominated for four Juno awards and won the Canadian Country Music Award (CCMA) rising star award in 2014 and has won several Ontario County Music male artist of the year awards.

Josh Ross with Hailey Benedict are scheduled to perform at the fair on Sunday, Sept. 3.

Country music singer and songwriter Matthew Runaway of Simcoe will be performing in the VIP lounge at the fair on Saturday.

This year’s Paris fair will be Warner’s first as the agricultural society’s general manager and she’s looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

Warner took over from Cheryl Muir earlier this year.

“I can’t say enough about the volunteers who work so hard to make this such a great event,” Warner said. “We have volunteers who put in 18 hour days for five days in a row to make things run as smoothly as possible.

“They’re our lifeline.”

For more information about the fair including the schedule of events visit www.parisfairgrounds.com/.

[email protected]

twitter.com/EXPVBall