6:15 am Friday August 15th – We have worked all year for today to arrive and here it is. Thankfully, the weather looks good. Provincial Minister of Tourism, Peter Fonseca, will officially open the fair in less than 4 hours. Federal Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, will also be here. There really is a special excitement around the opening and we all get caught up in it. Last minute rehearsals finished yesterday and now, 18 days of fun. For me, all I have to do is to see the looks on the faces of the children in our First Family to make the year’s hard work worthwhile.
About David
David Bednar is the General Manager of the Canadian National Exhibition. He moved to Canada from Dallas, Texas in 1970 to attend Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, where he graduated with a B.A. in theatre and business administration. His career has included ten years as Director of Operations at Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake and nine years with Live Entertainment Corporation (Livent), where he was involved in the development and operation of theatre projects in Toronto and New York. David was appointed General Manager of the CNE in 1998 and became a Canadian citizen at the 2000 CNE. He served as President of the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions in 2007. Happily married to Alexandra, he has four children, two step-daughters, two daughters-in-law, one son-in-law, and grandchildren Chloe, Mathieu, and Toby, all of whom are above average.
Well, I don’t know where you were on opening day of the Ex, but I was there dodging in and out of the pouring rain! lol I actually had never been to the Ex on opening day, but I do try to go on a day when they are calling for rain as there are less people to contend with!
All in all, I would say it was a great day…I spent far too much money because with the rain, I needed to be in the buildings! lol We will be back again on the next two weekends, our family loves the EX!
The weather on Opening Day was bizarre to say the least. During the Opening Ceremonies in the morning, there was not a cloud in the bright blue sky and the temperature was perfect. We couldn’t have ordered up better weather. It was later in the day that things changed — rain, hail, a funnel cloud and, at the end of it all, two of the most amazing rainbows I’ve ever seen side by side. CNE visitors are troopers though — they stuck around and seemed to be having a great time despite the weather.