Tickets now on sale for Western Fair 2017

We’re well into the summer season but officials at the Western Fair are keeping their eyes on September.

The historic fair’s 142nd edition will kick off on Sept. 8 and run until Sept. 17.

Tickets went on sale on Monday for the 10-day event.

Residents can check out over 50 rides, dozens of farm animals in the Agriplex, a demolition derby and concerts.

The fair is also well known for its tasty treats and director of agriculture Heather Blackwell tells AM980 they’ll release more details about vendors who will be on site later.

“Food is one of the number one things that people come to the fair for,” said Blackwell. “If it’s on a stick, deep-fried, and certainly the more exotic, the better because people … want to follow their healthy eating patterns but they also want to come to the fair and say, ‘oh, I had a beaver tail, or oh, I had this deep-fried cheese stick, it was so good,’ it’s an experience in itself.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Food is one of the number one things that people come to the fair for," said Blackwell. "If it's on a stick, deep-fried, and certainly the more exotic, the better because people … want to follow their healthy eating patterns but they also want to come to the fair and say, 'oh, I had a beaver tail, or oh, I had this deep-fried cheese stick, it was so good,' it's an experience in itself."

Blackwell said Canada’s 150th birthday ties into this year’s theme.

“We really feel the tie-in to that anniversary and the fact that we’ve kind of been around for as long as the country has as well, so that was sort of the concept with bringing back a lot of those ‘then and now’ memories and focusing on what were positive memories for fair fans in the past and trying to provide that for them this year,” she said.

Tickets for the Western Fair are on sale now but will also be available at Shoppers Drug Marts on Friday.