Canadian National Exhibition

Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is an annual event held at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The CNE grew out of an annual late summer fair at a time when Toronto was the centre of a farming community. It is now the oldest and largest annual fair in the world. The midway is currently operated under contract by Conklin Shows (sole contractor since 1937).

History

Prior to the CNE, a major agricultural fair was held in a different city every year in the province of Ontario. In 1878, Toronto hosted the fair, and it was a major success with over 100,000 visitors. Based on the success, local politicians and business groups lobbied for a permanent summer fair to be held yearly in Toronto. This was fought by other Ontario communities that feared the loss of business from having to compete with a major fair. The traveling fair allowed rural communities to get exposure that they would not normally have had. The agricultural theme of this fair earned Toronto the nickname, "Hogtown".

The Toronto operators won and the first 'permanent' fair was held in 1879 as the Toronto Industrial Exhibition at what is now the Exhibition Place grounds. The current grounds covers a total of 260 acres (1 km�) of land facing Lake Ontario, in the west end of Toronto.

In 1937 Patty Conklin of Conklin Shows was awarded the contract for the CNE midway. Conklin Shows has provided the midway at the CNE every year the Exhibition has been open since 1937.

The CNE was not held between 1942 and 1946, when the land and its facilities were turned over to the Department of National Defence as a training ground. After World War II, it was used as a demobilization centre.

Over the years the CNE has changed extensively to meet the needs of the growing and changing demographics of Toronto and Southern Ontario.

The post-war years and modernism

The CNE resumed in 1947, as the Canadian military returned the grounds back to its civilian administrators. Soon, the CNE turned away from a provincial, agricultural focus, and moved towards an increasingly modern, cosmopolitan look and feel.

Arguably the start of the trend was already evident in the construction of the Automotive Building in 1929, the first building that tried to break free of the Beaux Art design common to many of the other buildings on the grounds, mixing clean modern lines with classical ornamentation. Subsequent buildings and structures turned were strikingly modern, and propelled the CNE into an institution design to embody technological progress. The first opportunity to place a modernist look to the CNE grounds post-war came in 1946, when the third Exhibition Stadium burned down. In its place was built the fourth (and final) Exhibition Stadium, a massive concrete construction and monumental cantilevered steel roof was a sharp contrast to the other buildings around it.

The modernist trend continued with the construction of other buildings and monuments typifying the modernist style including the Food Building 1954, the Shell Oil Tower 1955, Queen Elizabeth II Building 1957, the Princess Margaret Fountain 1958 and the new Dufferin Gates 1959. The modernist design trend culminated in the Better Living Centre, built in 1962, which came with a distinctive Mondrian-inspired ornament on its roof.

Recent history

Having celebrated its 125th anniversary in the summer of 2003 (even though hampered by the 2003 blackout), "The Ex" - as it is also known - holds several trades shows and spectacles, ranging from performing dogs to the Snowbirds air show. It traditionally operates for the last three weeks of the summer, ending on Labour Day (the first Monday in September).

In the 1990s the annual fair suffered from deficits, but since 1999 it appears to have rebounded in popularity, and has suffered only one deficit since then. Since 1997 there has been talk about merging the administration and staffing of Exhibition Place and the adjacent Ontario Place as a cost-cutting and efficiency measure, as both currently operate with three boards and four separate sets of staff ^*.

Its current programs include: Kids World, Kiddie Midway, Ken Jen petting zoo, Doo Doo the Clown, costume characters, "farm, food and fun", Eukanuba Superdogs, rock sculptures, butter sculptures, sand sculptures, human cannonball, daily parades, Food Building and the Rogers Sportzone.

References

Avigdor, Jeanine. 1994. The Scadding Cabin, 1794: Toronto's Oldest House. The York Pioneer and Historical Society. ISBN 0-9698404-0-3.
Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of The "Ex". 1978. Ed: John Withrow. J.H. Robinson Publishing Ltd.

External links

Culture of Toronto | Exhibitions | Toronto

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Canadian National Exhibition

History

The post-war years and modernism

Recent history

See also

References

External links