Pacific National Exhibition welcomes new acts and vendors, along with many familiar faces to the 2022 show.
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As tempests in kettles go, this one is more like a downpour in a donut hole.
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PNE’s former mini donut maker, That Little Donuts, was not invited back to the show this summer, causing consternation in some quarters.
But there are three independent mini donut stands that will be at the summer fair, including the third generation of the family that brought the little sugary flavor bombs to Western Canada in the 1960s.
“My grandfather basically introduced mini donuts to western Canada on the fairground circuit,” Jessa Bedford said Tuesday.
She and her husband Keith were in transit from Saskatchewan, where their mini donut truck The Little Donut Bakery was a vendor at the Saskatoon Exposition which ended Sunday.
His grandfather Eldred Johnson was from Minnesota, where Tom Thumb mini donut franchises began. It was the 1960s and Canada was new territory. Johnson and another gentleman had a handshake deal to divide the market, Bedford said, with Johnson taking over West Winnipeg fairs beginning in 1968.
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It added the PNE to its stops in the Prairie Provinces in 1971.
“When my dad Steve took over from my grandfather in 1984, he didn’t want to be a part of the franchise anymore, so he built his own team and started his own company, which was That Little Donuts.
“We’ve been out of it ever since, but we really miss it, so we decided to start a new company and build our own equipment, which is the same machine, so that’s what people are going to get with us.”
They still offer cinnamon sugar, but also a wide range of flavors, like buttered French toast, corn fritters, and a unique British Columbia theme for the PNE, a Nanaimo bar doughnut, and toppings from cream cheese to chocolate and vanilla.
“And sprinkles, they’re always popular with kids,” Bedford said. “We are offering the traditional, but we are also going a little further.”
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jimmy’s lunch is back, the oldest food vending machine in the PNE that debuted in the PNE 93 years ago and is operated by the fourth generation of the family.
And the Peking Acrobats return after a long absence.
“We haven’t had them in the PNE for several years. They are a first class show that is free with admission,” said PNE spokeswoman Laura Ballance.
The fires and floods of recent years have hit agriculture hard, but 4-H is back, too.
“We really hope that people will come out and support them, these young farmers,” Ballance said.
It is also the first year that the PNE will have concerts with full tickets, with prices ranging from $25 to $79.
“That’s a big change for people, but we try to keep it really cheap, and I think when you look at the artists and the prices, I think we’ve done a good job of that.”
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the poster of the night Summer Night Concerts Series includes the B-52’s Farewell Tour and the Beach Boys’ Sixty Years of the Sounds of Summer, Canadian favorites Blue Rodeo, Barenaked Ladies (endorsed by Kim Mitchell), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acts like Chicago and Steve Miller, and icons Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings.
For fans of ’90s music, Shaggy and TLC will share a double bill. Between them they have sold over 125 million records worldwide. Country music fans will have the opportunity to see the Osborne brothers.
The VSO will pay homage to the Beatles, the Gypsy Kings will bring their wild flamenco and salsa, Cake her deadpan storytelling and rapper Nelly.
In the midst of PNE Amphitheater’s nightly performances is Stars of Drag: A Night of True Colors, starring Vancouver’s Kendall Gender and international drag queens Ginger Minj, Trinity the Tuck, Eureka and Plastique.
And for fans of soul and R&B, Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle close out the 2022 fair with a performance on Labor Day.
