A time-honoured tradition will showcase the best the Hamlet of Busby has to offer as Farmers Days returns June 8-10.
Originally started as a friendly picnic to celebrate the end of seeding in the 1950s, the annual celebration has ballooned into a three-day extravaganza featuring a 15-team slo-pitch tournament, parade and cabaret-style pub night.
“Busby loves to put on Farmers Day to highlight our community. It started a long time ago,” said Busby Community League president Jennifer Stoby. “It’s now morphed into a full-blown celebration of our community.”
Roughly 400-500 people come out to the celebration every year, with the Saturday morning breakfast drawing at least 250 hungry festival-goers.
With the slo-pitch tournament kicking off the celebrations Friday evening, festival-goers will have plenty to do around the hamlet throughout the weekend.
A plate at the Saturday morning breakfast, which starts at 8 a.m. , costs $10, or $5 for kids between 5-11. Anyone younger eats for free.
Following breakfast the parade begins at the Busby Fire Hall and heads down Highway 651 before ending at the sports grounds. Stoby said typically the parade has between 20-30 participants but noted anyone is welcome to join the procession.
“We allow anybody who wants to be in the parade,” she added.
“We always welcome kids to ride bikes, or horses. Just show up at 10:30 with your float or whatever you want in the parade and join in.”
After the parade, a farmers’ market runs at Busby School from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the Busby Lions Club will host a concession throughout the weekend.
There will be plenty of activities for the kids as well, including a chance to dig for buried treasure in a sand pit filled with money, three bouncy houses and the fire department is planning to set up a slip and slide, weather permitting.
Busby Gymkhana Club members will be showcasing their skills starting at 12:45 p.m. Saturday, although if the weather doesn’t cooperate they’ll saddle up on Sunday instead.
With all the excitement going on, festival-goers will also be able to grab a cold beverage at the Busby Saloon Saturday evening with a cabaret-style pub night, starting at 8 p.m., which will also feature karaoke throughout the evening. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
All proceeds from the fundraising festival will go to the Busby Community League to cover upgrades and improvements of local facilities.
“We always have projects that we need to do. One big one is to fix up our ball diamonds. We need some new shale, we need to fix the fencing and we also need to replace our bleachers, because they’re starting to rot,” said Stoby.
“Our community hall recently completed a kitchen renovation, so we’re hoping to raise a few more funds for projects in the future.”
