It was halfway through the fair and we had a mid-afternoon torrential downpour.  We stood at the window of the General Manager’s office watching everyone running for cover into any building they could find.  Uh-oh the day was going to be disappointing — the street in front of the building cleared completely of any people.  Then, out of the cover of a nearby building we saw a little girl running with an umbrella.  She stopped in the middle of the street.  Uh-oh double whammy — a lost child.  But no — her parents watched from the shelter of the building, and we watched from our “ivory tower” as it were, as she stopped, put the umbrella out in front of her, face up to the pouring rain and began to spin and dance on the empty street.  She had a huge smile on her face, and you could almost imagine you were hearing her sing “I’m dancing in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I’m happy again.”  It was one of those moments that sticks in your mind at the ability of children to find joy and happiness in everything.  Turned out to be a wonderful day!!

The fourth night of the Rising Star Talent Show ended with a bang.  A very large bang.  About half way through the show, the sky got very dark and we knew a storm was coming.  We got to the second last act when the skies opened and everyone ran for cover.  Everything in the sound booth got soaked including the judges.  Zsolt our sound guy was running all over the stage covering speakers, kids in the back of the stage were a little scared, I was trying to cover up our computer, score sheets, etc., when this man comes running into the sound booth asking where Vicki was.  Now I am thinking his kid has gotten hurt so I answer him and he proceeds to tell me how great a singer his kid is and how can he go about getting into the competition.  Can you believe it?  He could not have picked a worse time to ask the question.  Why he thought he could talk to me then is beyond me.  It continued to rain and the only thing I could do to finish the show was have the judges run up to the stage and judge the last act right in front of them.  We couldn’t turn on any sound but the girls were very strong singers so the judges heard them fine.  That had to be the worst night of the Rising Star Talent Competition.  I will never forget it and hope to never experience it again.

My special moment at this year’s CNE was meeting a 93-year-old veteran in his motorized wheelchair, with his wife, at the Tim Hortons Seniors’ Breakfast.

They arrived late after we had shut down the coffee line.  The lady asked me if we could still fit in her husband, a WWII veteran.

How could I refuse?  We chatted in line and he told me of landing at Dieppe in 1942, being captured and spending three years in a German POW camp — Stalag B8.

I asked him how they were treated and he said, “Bloody awful, but I came home a better man and to a free country.”  I told him that I had come from Ireland 33 years ago and how much I loved my adopted country, which was a much better place today, because of men like him.

When the couple were leaving his wife hugged me and thanked me for making him feel so special.

An event the size and scope of The Ex takes all year to put together and we work hard during the 18 days to make sure everything goes according to plan, or at least as close to the plan as possible.  At the end of it all, once the rides are moved out, the Food Building is closed up for the year and everything at Exhibition Place returns to normal, we all have plenty of stories to tell.

I asked the CNE team if they had any experiences they wanted to share and this is what they had to say…