Page 41 - Brandon Sun - Royal manitoba Winter Fair 2019

MARCH 25-30, 2019 • ROYAL MANITOBA WINTER FAIR • THE BRANDON SUN 41

» Continued from Page 40 Manitoba and Canada to
Queen Elizabeth II, seek-
From that start, and with ing her designation of the
the development a few years winter fair as the Royal
later in Roland, Man. of a Manitoba Winter Fair.
formal club, the 4-H move- That designation was
ment began to spread. given in July, 1970, during a
It was the Manitoba visit by the Queen and other
Winter Fair which built members of the Royal Fam-
the Wheat City Arena, ily to Manitoba. That visit
opened in 1913, as the “fin- included a stop in Brandon
est indoor horse arena in on July 12.
Western Canada,” and it “On the advice and rec-
was the Manitoba Winter ommendation of the gov-
Fair that, in 1963, put up ernment of Manitoba and
a cash deposit of $50,000 the government of Canada,
towards the start of a fund Her Majesty has graciously
to build the Keystone Cen- extended to the Manitoba
tre, a multi-use building Winter Fair the designation
which became the home for ‘Royal.’”
the winter fair, hockey and Those few words were
other sports, and many oth- received in Brandon as
er community cultural and the announcement of a
recreational enterprises. long hoped-for courtesy
But the first “Royal” by Queen Elizabeth to the
Manitoba Winter Fair took oldest winter agricultur-
place in 1971. It was at the al show in Canada — the
instigation of the Manitoba second oldest such show in
Exhibition Association that North America.
the request was forward-
ed by the governments of
Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands during a visit to Brandon on July 12, 1970. (File)