Machinery shows and auctions
Curiosity and the willingness to adapt have always been the hallmarks
of Edmonton Northlands' policy, and so the exhibition of new machinery
has long been both an organizational commitment and a public drawing
card.
The 1920s in particular saw a boom in the use of novel technology, as
the work-burden was slowly shifting from manual to mechanized labour. It
was no surprise, then, that a variety of manufacturing companies rented
display space at the exhibition— at an average price of $10 CDN a booth—from
which to demonstrate the virtues of their new devices.
The Edmonton Exhibition became so well known for its machinery
displays that Canadian Farm Implements, which billed itself as the only
agricultural equipment trade magazine in Alberta at the time, looked to
sell advertising space to fair organizers in 1928.
Moreover,
potential exhibitors wrote from around Canada and across the United
States in the hopes of procuring display space. Many of these companies
were interested in selling agricultural machinery, but a few had other
things in mind. One such company, Harwen Products Corporation of New
York, was hoping to exhibit automotive parts and accessories.
Machine sales saw a drop in the 1930s, with the onset of the Depression, but the
practice of displaying and showcasing equipment survived the slump.
Collective patience was rewarded at the end of the Second World War,
when a better economy brought with it a renewed confidence in the power
and potential of machinery, especially as it related to farming.
Soon the exhibit space was alive with detailed pictures depicting
tractors, seed cleaners, and other mechanical farming tools marketed
under various brand names and originating in a number of countries.
By the early 1960s, the farm machinery show had been officially
linked to the popular Canadian Western Stock Show and Rodeo. It did so
well there that the Wholesale Implement Dealers’ Association supported
continuing its large exhibits.
Since the mid-1960s, the major agricultural equipment exhibition has
been held in conjunction with the Farm and Ranch Show, which itself once
existed under the Stock Show umbrella. Dozens of farm equipment
manufacturers now display alongside dealers producing materials for
every aspect of the agricultural industry, from large-scale fabrication
materials to water fixtures. Other groups exhibit because they are
either hoping to educate—as is the case with the Edmonton Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)—or because they wish to
promote little known facets of the agricultural world.
Today, farm equipment shows serve two purposes. The first is in
attracting rural residents to new displays, keeping them up-to-date on
changes, and the other is in educating the increasing urban population
as to the structure and function of the machinery used in the creation
of their food.
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