A pair of local farmers hope their expertise can do some good for the Dufferin Agricultural Society. John Goff and Jason Kehler have taken over leadership of the Carman area group as President and Vice President respectively.

Kehler says as farmers and business people, he and Goff are committed to their community and want to keep it healthy and vibrant. "As farmers we're not wanting to go anywhere, we want to be here for generations, so we just felt it was best to lead by example and we threw our names in to be involved and we hope we can do the community some good."

Kehler adds he felt he owed it to the community to put his best foot forward and lead by example, and hopes that others will follow to help generate some new excitement in Carman and cause a positive change.

"We want the (Carman Country) Fair to be around, not only for ourselves to enjoy but as a farmer I hope my kids want to farm and so I hope my kids will have a fair to come to and their kids, and so it doesn't happen on its own."

The duo has already put forward some new cost-effective incentives and activities to be implemented for the 2017 Carman Country Fair. The D.A.S. lost $50,000 last year and the new board plans to get the annual fair to a break-even status

The first is a Potato Truck Pull, an idea that Kehler says he got from a buddy in Carberry.

"Basically what you do is you park a couple trucks on track and you get ten-man teams, put two side-by-side and they pull off against each other," he explains. "We're really hoping to create some rivalries in town."

The event would be a fundraiser, requiring participants to raise about $50 in pledges toward mental health. Kehler says the death of an area farmer this past summer persuaded the board that it was time to speak up on the subject.

A second incentive involves the local potato producers coming together to provide free French fries all three days of the fair.

Kehler adds a third incentive will see about fifty additional non-serviced campsites go up just for the fair. "The bottom line is we want people in Carman...we want people coming from far and wide and to know they've got the ability to stay in Carman should they chose to."

As for the entertainment portion of the weekend, which typically ran quite expensive, he explains the board has a cost-savings plan for that too.

Also creating some extra traffic in town will be the provincial Percheron horse show, which Kehler says will see about forty-five heavy horses compete.

Overall, Kehler agrees that there is a renewed sense of optimism and momentum for the Board and says the excitement is starting to snowball. That being said, he adds the board wants to make sure the D.A.S. moves forward as a positive organization and benefits the community in more ways than just the fair.

"We want to try and expand our horizons a bit, there's other things you can do in a community to raise money or hold events throughout the year...we're hoping for big things."

He feels that if you offer people good leadership they will follow and says the board is already seeing a good number of people generate some new ideas or come on board as volunteers. "There's definitely a buzz in town and that's what we want, we want the excitement back."

Kehler is also looking forward to tapping into the knowledge that is currently around the board table, noting there are some volunteers on the D.A.S. that have thirty-plus years experience with the organization. Volunteers like past- president Elaine Owen continue to serve with the organization and Trish Middleton has assumed advertising and publicity responsibilities.