Cattle competition organizers worry about future at NBEX

I'm at a dairy show at the Fredericton Exhibition Grounds where breeders from across the Maritimes are competing to see who has the best cattle. But with the city expropriating the land, organizers are concerned about the future of the event. We may lose this place and that would be a huge loss for our community, not just the dairy community, but agricultural community as well. McKillop says hosting it in Fredericton is ideal because of its central location for attendees from the eastern provinces. But finding a venue for her event has become utterly challenging. We've lost quite a few in very, very recent history. So the ones that are left are extremely busy and it's difficult to get booked into. And I worry because we don't want to lose these shows. One of the competitors is John Dykstra. He grew up on a dairy farm and started showing cows at the exhibition center 30 years ago. Ironically, her name is Looks Matter, and that's kind of what showing cows is all about, you know, kind of how they look. But because this place has meant so much to him, Dykstra says it's sad to hear that it could be gone in the next few years. You know, I believe in progress, too, and I do believe in building up your downtown cores and that kind of stuff, too, but you still have to keep agriculture relevant. Keswick Ridge dairy farmer Karen Verslut drove from the city to watch the competition. She fears the competition will leave the city if the grounds are demolished. There are other places they can build houses and apartment buildings. And there's lots of room over there for the school with still keeping these facilities. I think the city really needs to look at other avenues if they want to build apartments and there are other places around where they could do that. The city of Fredericton completed expropriation of the grounds back in August. The plan is to build a new middle school and housing there in the years to come.