For decades the PNE fair has ended on Labour Day, marking the unofficial end of summer and the start of the school year.
“Today is traditionally one of our two biggest days of the year,” PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance said on a cloudy Monday morning. “Hopefully, the weather holds and it warms up a little bit and people come out and make their end-of-summer tradition, which for a big percentage of our population is the PNE on Labour Day.”
Baldrey: The PNE is a tradition we must all preserve
With attendance so dependent on the weather, PNE officials will decide sometime this fall if they’ll hold the fair earlier in the summer, possibly as early as July.
The PNE estimates around 700,000 to 750,000 visitors will have passed through its doors during this year’s 15-day fair. That’s up from last year’s low numbers — 678,000 patrons — after a big storm kept people away.
A proposal to shift the start of the PNE has organizers of country fairs in Maple Ridge and Abbotsford expressing concerns.
Officials with the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows Country Fest and the Abbotsford Agrifair said the change would have a negative impact on attendance at their events.
If PNE officials decide to change the dates of the fair, the earliest it could happen is 2018.
– With files from Grace Ke and Amy Judd
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