Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (Sep 16/02) - Despite this summer's cool and wet weather, the annual Hay River Fall Fair was a success.

However, some vegetables in the Sept. 7 event were noticeably smaller than usual.

Joyce Hinson won the first-place ribbon for this pumpkin at the recent Hay River Fall Fair. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

While some vegetables did well in this summer's weather, others suffered, explains Evellyn Coleman, the executive director of the Territorial Farmers' Association, which has presented the event for the last five years.

For example, some potatoes and other root crops were waterlogged, she says, noting some gardeners had to dig deeper to find suitable specimens to enter into the competition.

Likewise, tomatoes and zucchinis were not as good as in previous years.

Pumpkins also appear to have been hampered by the summer's weather, Coleman says. "They weren't big."

However, she notes such vegetables as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower grew well this summer. "Certain crops do well if it's cool."

The first-place ribbon for the best pumpkin went to Joyce Hinson, who says her pumpkins are usually much bigger by this time of year.

"The weather wasn't conducive to good gardens this year," she says. "Everything was late."

Hinson says she noticed a lot of the vegetables were smaller than usual at this year's Fall Fair.

However, Coleman still describes the Fall Fair -- the 22nd in Hay River -- as a success.

"This is probably the best one we had in the last five years," she says, noting there were well over 200 entries in various categories.

Coleman says part of the success was tying the Fall Fair to the annual Hay River Trade Show. "I think that had a real positive impact."