Bald passes on farm fair baton to next generation

Ray Bald has been the Karoonda Farm Fair manager since 1985, with a short stint as president within that time.

In recent months, he has signed off on his final managerial duties after weathering many storms and facing some pretty big challenges but nonetheless Ray's interest in building the event to what it is known as today, has been a key motivation that lasted decades.

"I enjoyed the back and forth to create a successful outcome and helping to carve out a direction we wanted to go in," Ray said.

"It was a key way to bring it all together each year and provide the community with something that was pretty special.

"The farm fair began with cattle dog competitions and sheep classing. It really began as a sheep fair but grew into a more inclusive event."

Ray said through a lot of hard work, the entire district was coordinated into playing a role in the event.

Ensuring the event kept enticing rural communities to come along each year weighed heavily on the committee's shoulders and at times, "it was not easy", Ray said.

"Making sure the event was fresh and at the cutting edge of what was happening in the sector at the time was something that took hours and hours of discussion and planning," he said.

Opening the gates to a wide range of visitors to make it not just a "Karoonda" event was a cornerstone of the event's long-lasting success.

Ray said each year, new attractions helped with this and some years, he was astounded by the rallying of volunteers to bring agriculture into the lives of each person at the farm fair - at any cost.

"In 2002, a couple of days prior to the fair a massive storm ripped through Karoonda. It almost decimated the marquees," he said.

"But everyone got on with it and came to the aid of the event and made sure the setup was not destroyed.

"That is the level of effort the community put in."

The 1990s is well-documented as one of the tougher decades to hit farming and the farm fair was not immune to the struggles confronting the industry.

"It was one of the worst droughts and it was widespread," Ray said.

The drought hit the pocket of exhibitors, local businesses and the community hard but they all dug deep and the event continued on through some tricky territory.

The hunt has begun for Ray's successor, with anyone interested in taking on the role encouraged to make it known to the committee.

RAY Bald's final years at the head of his community's major event had been somewhat over-shadowed by COVID-19 as he worked hard, navigating pandemic-related issues to try to get the Karoonda Farm Fair over the line.

During his time in charge, he followed a philosophy of "keep it simple, stupid".

"It was important to be that way to make sure the event was as smooth running as possible," he said.

"I always tried to keep everyone on the same page."

Ray said the pandemic's affect was felt far and wide, making the most basic aspect of planning an event, "too difficult" to make it viable.

"Whatever we wanted to do was never allowed - we hit so many brick walls until it reached of a point of no return," he said.

With two out of the past three events cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions, Mr Bald said missing out on a final "hooroo" was a bit sad.

"After all of these years it is difficult not having one last hooroo and saying thanks for all of the support throughout the years," he said.

Along the away, Ray collected many friends who helped broaden his horizon.

"I made tremendous friends and connections with people I never would have met or been able to work with otherwise," he said.

"The field day circle was so varied."

There are a few people on the committee that will pass on their duties in the coming years but they are planning a staggered retirement as people make more time for caravanning.