SCS wins Young Canada Day title at Norfolk County Fair

The 184th Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show got off to a raucous start on Tuesday with thousands of high school students cheering on their teams at the Young Canada Day competition.

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The grandstand took on a nautical theme, with five sections – one for each of Norfolk’s secondary schools – elaborately decorated by students for the traditional, friendly contest that has been opening the fair for decades.

“My son is in the grandstand,” said Ron Smith, a teacher at Simcoe Composite. “I was there as a student and so were my mother and father. This is the greatest school spirit, community building event in high school.

“Regardless of academic or social groups, here we’re all SCS Sabres.”

Young Canada Day is an opening day fair tradition that goes back about 90 years and features competitions in tug of war, road races, cheerleading, special effects, and junior homecraft.

Schools earn points in each of the categories to determine an overall winner. On Tuesday, Simcoe Composite became the overall grand champion.

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“Planning for this day began in the summer,” said SCS principal Jennifer Ippolito. “Staff and students work in a collaborative effort in all the categories. It’s incredible.”

Delhi District Grade 12 student Alex Dewolfe called the event “10 out of 10.”

“It’s a chance to cheer on the schools and get out to have some fun.”

Screaming wildly in the stands for the Waterford Wolfs were Grade 11 students Alexis Eastman and Olivia Lefler, decked out in tropical shirts, leys and beads.

“We’re all matching,” Eastman said. “It’s so much fun to come out and support our school.”

Emilie Mole, a Grade 12 student at Valley Heights, has been leading the school’s cheerleaders in 7 am practices three times a week leading up to Tuesday’s competition.

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“I think it pays off,” said Mole. “We never come close to winning but we come out to represent the school and we’re getting better each year.”

For the second year running, SCS won the overall Young Canada Day title.

Waterford placed first in the cheerleading contest, followed by Holy Trinity and SCS.

Delhi placed first in the girls’ tug of war in the final, beating SCS. In the boys’ tug of war final, Delhi beat Waterford.

SCS was first in the secondary road race, with Delhi and Valley Heights placing second and third respectively.

Valley Heights won the junior homecraft category, followed by SCS and Delhi.

“The energy is so high,” said the fair’s content creator Lisette Bartlett of Young Canada Day. “The grandstand is full, and the kids are having a great time.”

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Bartlett said the temperate weather on Tuesday kicks off a week that promises a “nice, crisp fall fair feeling.”

The Norfolk event, Ontario’s oldest agricultural fair, runs until Thanksgiving Monday.

The horse show offers competitions in more than 200 classes.

There are more than 15,000 entries in hundreds of competitions spanning livestock; homecraft; photography; and garden products, field crops, plants and flowers and five nights of motorsports, including freestyle motocross, demolition derbies, monster madness, and the “Grand Daddy” tractor pull.

Country music fans can enjoy Canadian group the James Barker Band, winner of the Emerging Artist Showcase at the 2015 Boots and Hearts Music Festival, in a grandstand concert on Friday.

The Glorious Sons, a rock band from Kingston, Ontario, whose best-known songs include SOS (Sawed Off Shotgun); Heavy; and Everything is Alright, perform Saturday. VIP and trackside tickets are sold out, but grandstand seats are still available.

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