A Belleville Councillor said he was surprised to see a cancellation of the Quinte Exhibition and a change in construction timeline for the annual Labour Day Weekend fair.
The Belleville Agricultural Society posted to its social media on Friday that the 203rd edition of the fair had been postponed this year because the new fairgrounds site off Black Diamond Road won’t be ready and the old site at Bridge and Sidney Streets was unavailable due to prep work for future development.
Speaking to the rest of the horseshoe during the new business portion of Monday’s regular council meeting, Coun. Paul Carr said he was surprised to learn of this through media outlets and asked about a shift in the construction timeline.
CAO Matt MacDonald told council that city staff was told by officials with the fair that a change in the schedule was made and that they wanted to be aware of any decision the Ag Society was going to make, but council wasn’t informed about the decision until later in the day on Friday after it was already made public.
Carr admitted council was given a lot of heat online regarding what some residents thought was their decision, but noted the group wasn’t made aware of a timeline change until inquiries started to be made.
He added while he didn’t want to lay blame on the Ag Society, he admitted he and the rest of the horseshoe was certain the summer of this year would have been a sufficient enough timeline to reach for project completion.
