In Medieval Woodbridge, England, our villages namesake, a “FAIR” was a meeting of people for the purpose of selling goods and livestock, sometimes accompanied by entertainment from wondering singers and actors known as minstrels. This ancient custom traveled in the early 1800s to our Vaughan Township in Upper Canada within the hearts of immigrants who braved the journey to begin a new life for themselves and their families.

The first fair in 1847 was held on the property known as the Stegmann Estate in Pine Grove on the corner of Gamble Street and Islington Avenue owned by 1st President John Gamble later to become the First Reeve of Vaughan. In 1848 the fair was held in Burwick, the former name of the Village of Woodbridge, on the Humber River flats east of Wallace Street. This land was owned by John Abell, who settled here in 1845 and who held the position of 2nd President until 1886. The fair was held alternately between Weston and Woodbridge until 1885 when a permanent property was purchased from Mr. William Farr and Mr. Brawley up on the 8th Concession ( Kipling Avenue) over the CPR Tracks at 100 Porter Avenue where it still exists as the
“ Home of the Woodbridge Fall Fair”.

The early fairs were sponsored by the West York Agricultural Society and the Vaughan Agricultural Society. In 1890 they joined to become the Woodbridge Agricultural Society.

Under the direction of John Abell, a successful industrialist and the Society’s 2nd President, the fair continued to become an important business, cultural and community event in the village. For some years there were no buildings. A rented tent protected the fine arts; fowl remained in their traveling crates; cattle were tethered to fence posts; sheep and pigs were penned in shelters made by placing fence rails in a triangular shape and the horses were fed and stabled by the six Village Hotels.