Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
ROYAL MANITOBA WINTER FAIR VIP DINNER
Keystone Centre, Brandon
Tuesday, March 28, 2023, 5 p.m.
(please check against delivery)
Fellow Manitobans, I am delighted for the opportunity to visit beautiful Brandon and share in this wonderful tradition.
I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on Treaty 2 land, in a province that is the ancestral and present-day home of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Red River Metis, Dakota, Dene and Inuit people.
We acknowledge northern Manitoba includes lands that were, and are, the ancestral lands of the Inuit.
Together, the people of this diverse and beautiful province are working to move forward in partnership to build a society of understanding, opportunity and healing.
Manitobans work together to build many great enterprises, institutions and events that bring people together.
As Honorary Patron of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, it is my privilege and pleasure this afternoon to meet the people who make the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair possible.
For nearly 120 years, this fair has celebrated and encouraged innovation in agriculture, while building community, spreading joy and heralding the arrival of spring.
A fair like this does not just happen. You don’t draw 120,000 visitors without volunteers, sponsors and staff working hard to build a great event. You don’t put on a world-class equestrian and livestock show, agricultural displays and a week of family entertainment without a lot of work from the first planning meeting to the last clean-up.
I am sure you’ve all heard that line from the movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.”
I think you will agree a more accurate version would be: “If you build it, if you nurture a love for it, if you grow it through new facilities and new features, if you ensure that it delights young and old – then they will come.”
The designation Royal Manitoba Winter Fair recognizes this celebration’s central role to an industry with deep roots that reach into virtually every community in our province.
Every person who works to keep this tradition alive and thriving can take pride in that distinction – and the fact that only one other fair in Canada received this designation from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
Congratulations on what is sure to be a great 2023 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwich.
