History of the Flower and Produce Exhibition

Pitt Meadows Women’s Institute

Flower and Produce Exhibition

1925 to 1931

A long forgotten part of the history of Pitt Meadows is the Flower and Produce Exhibition put on by the local Women’s Institute. Housed in the archives at the Pitt Meadows Museum is one box of records containing a collection of documents and ephemera that are the only remaining evidence of the existence of this event that ran annually between 1925 and 1931. The exhibition was sponsored by the Pitt Meadows Womens Institute (PMWI) and was held at the municipal and community hall on Harris Road in the area where Heritage Hall is located. In the inaugural year, 1925, the Exhibition was a one-day event held on a Saturday afternoon in early September. Over the following five seasons the Exhibition was a two-day event held on a Thursday and Friday at the end of August. In the final season, 1931, the Exhibition was once again a one-day event held Friday, August 7th from 12:00 noon until 5:00 p.m.

Our best information about the Exhibition is found in the programme brochures produced for the event, professionally printed by the Columbian Co. in 1925 and by the Gazette Press thereafter. The 1925 programme is a simple four-fold format. From it we gain knowledge of the organizing committee. Among the members of the Committee is Mary Jane Harris, one of the first pioneers to arrive in Pitt Meadows and the wife of Wellington Jeffers Harris, the first Reeve of Maple Ridge.

What else does the 1925 programme reveal?

Paul Murray, one of the first schoolteachers in Maple Ridge, was the Reeve of Pitt Meadows.
Hammond Cedar was the major advertiser and would continue in this role throughout the seven seasons of the Exhibition.
Most other advertisers are from outside Pitt Meadows.
Jack Fairfield ran the Pitt Meadows Confectionary and had a booth at the Exhibition. (Mr. Fairfield would soon be the owner of a garage on Harris Road and would sell it to the Hoffmann family in 1934.)
Entry fees for exhibits were .25c
Pitt Meadows had a badminton club who arranged an afternoon tennis tournament as part of the festivities.
Mrs. E. M. McDermott was President of the Institute Fair Committee and would remain so for all seven seasons.

We are missing the programmes for the second and third seasons but pick up again in the fourth season when the programme is now a full fledged booklet with 20 pages of information and a card stock cover. These later programmes also yield a great deal of information.

There is now an annual Fair dance with either TODD’S Four Piece Orchestra or DAVID’S Five Piece Orchestra playing.
The entry price to the Exhibition remained the same throughout the seven seasons –gentleman and lady $1.50, single lady .50c, single gentleman $1.00. Entry fees for exhibitors also remain the same .25c for the seven seasons.
There is more advertising with Hammond Cedar remaining the principal sponsor with an inside front cover spot.
Most other advertisers are still from outside of Pitt Meadows.
A long list of prize donors and other contributors is now included.
Jack Fairfield is now advertising as a blacksmith and garage owner.

The last Pitt Meadows Exhibition took place on August 7, 1931. Why the event ceased to exist is unknown. What we do know is that in 1925 the Exhibition had an organizing committee of 16 members and this decreased over the seven seasons with a committee of only four members in 1931. We also know that:

The programme/brochure, while still professionally printed, was reduced to 12 pages with virtually no advertisers other than the Hammond Cedar Co., the Gazette, and the Fraser Café.
The list of contributors grew longer but the list of entry categories grew shorter.

One may deduce that the low numbers of volunteers, a deepening world depression and larger fairs to both the east and the west of the community all took a toll on the Women’s Institute Exhibition. Whatever the reason, a small community event ceased to be with the only evidence of its existence eventually ending up in the community archives at the Pitt Meadows Museum.

Flower and Produce Exhibition Pamphlet 1

Flower and Produce Exhibition Pamphlet 2

Flower and Produce Exhibition Pamphlet 3

Flower and Produce Exhibition Pamphlet 4