Fire in the Sky in the Peace River Country

Fall is such a wonderful time of the year here in the Peace River Country. The nights are getting longer and cooler and there is a smell in the forest that is hard to describe and signals the change in season.

When family and friends come to visit, most evenings are spent outside around a fire-pit, kids roasting marshmallows and adults talking late into the dark.

What a sky we have! It's like an amphitheater above stretching from horizon to horizon.

Autumn sunsets can be spectacular! The sunsets are followed by the most amazing night sky full of countless stars and a waning moon and if we are lucky, northern lights. Being serenaded by coyotes completes the scene.

There is something timeless and mesmerizing about being outside late into the night, telling stories of childhood adventures and sharing hopes for the future.

This is a great time of the year!

Fire in the Sky in the Peace River Country

Watching the Best of the Peace Compete at the Dawson Creek Fall Fair & Exhibition

We have such a great Fall Fair and Rodeo here in Dawson Creek. I have been going every year since I was a kid.

I love to go early on Saturday morning with a fresh cup of coffee, a few bucks in my pocket and fresh batteries in my camera to take in all the exhibits and competitions.

Every type of animal has it's own facility and over the years, it keeps getting better. All the barns are brightly decorated, there are flowers everywhere and so much to see and appreciate about the agriculture that is the backbone of this community.

I spend the whole day walking around talking to people, looking at the exhibits and watching the various shows. Children handling big cows, heavy horses pulling great skids of weights, llamas wearing halters, dressage in the light horse ring, displays of grains and quilts and jams and sweet peas. It truly is a wonderful fair!

Over the years, the booths have been built to resemble a western town. There is excellent fair food offered by the local service groups and everyone has their favorites.

There is always great country band in the Watering Hole Beer Gardens and it seems that everyone knows how to two-step! People from all over the world make this weekend a holiday destination!

Staying to watch the nightly fireworks is the perfect end of a great day of fun and community.

Watching the Best of the Peace Compete at the Dawson Creek Fall Fair & Exhibition

Defying Gravity at the Fall Fair

Going for a spin with friends on the Tilt-A-Whirl is one thing, but hanging upside down and being whipped around for 5 minutes in a gravity defying machine is quite another.

It's Fall Fair Days in Dawson Creek and it seems like the whole region comes out to celebrate.

A big part of the Fair is the Midway. As usual there were bumper-to-bumper line-ups of people of all ages waiting to get on one of the rides for an adrenalin rush. Several of those rides are not for the faint of heart.

I love the way the Ferris Wheel faces to watch the Chuck Wagon races. We were lucky this time and were loaded first on the Wheel so we got extra airtime while they loaded the rest. We watched a Pro Chuck Wagon race thunder around the track from the best seat in the house, high above in the sky.

The Midway wouldn't be the same without the smell of cotton candy, loud music that almost drowns out the screams of delight and the sight of people walking around with stuffed toys they won at a game. I spent my usual amount tossing rings at little floating duckies and even threw a few darts... no luck this time... but there is always next year.

What do you love about the fair?

Defying Gravity at the Fall Fair

Stepping Back in Time to a Country Fall Fair

Every year we go to the Kiskatenaw Fall Fair. Tucked away on a country road just off the Hart Highway about a half hour west of town, this old time community fair is a reminder of simpler times.

There is none of the glitz and glimmer found at the large exhibitions, this country fair is like home cooking. A barn filled with local handcrafts and preserves, a few rows of prize farm animals and 2 days of horse shows.

I am inspired to get a couple of geese but have been told their looks are nicer than their personalities so will do more research.

We always go on the Saturday for the heavy horses pulls. I love to see those huge animals showing what they were raised to do. They skid heavy logs through obstacle courses just like they skidded logs out of the forest when horses did logging. The teams also compete to see who can pull the heaviest loads. It truly is teamwork at it's finest.

The food is home cooked, generous and very affordable. The admission price is by donation and the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming.

The fair is held at the beginning of August every year and is well attended by locals and visitors alike. This year we sat and chatted with a couple from Nebraska on their way up the Alaska Highway.

Stepping Back in Time to a Country Fall Fair