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Prince Edward Island in the summer has some amazing places, experiences and event to see and attend. From the summer we’ve spent so far, I’ve loved almost every part and event in PEI. Old Home Week though … at least the Exhibition part of it, ranks as my least favorite part.
This being said, if you’re
- not over 16 OR
- not taking your kids under 16 OR
- have never been to a larger fair like the Canadian National Exhibition – CNE in Toronto (which is fail for me, by travel standards) or an American fair like the Minnesota State Fair
Then I would really recommend taking a stroll into Old Home Week. Seriously though … if I didn’t win back my admission and parking at the nearby Red Sands Casino, I would have been furious with myself for going, even as a tourist event.
Getting into the fair was definitely a straightforward and easy process. There are homes around the site that all turn themselves into parking lots for $4 or $5 … if you’re willing to walk for 3 mins, then you could find parking for $2 at people’s homes. I do love how kitsch that part is … Islanders inventing another way to make a buck! When almost everyone seems to have a 1/2 acre of land with their houses here, why not put it to good use?
If you’re really lucky, you might even find someone who will sell you the use of their weekly “Old Home Week” pass for a significant discount. The running joke in PEI is that everyone is named Gallant and if I did happen to use someone else’s pass, I would have been a Gallant according to that pass … I’ll say that I’ve not met a Brown skinned Gallant on my trip here so far.
According to the CBC … everyone is named Gallant, and I did find the other PEI EI PI clips more entertaining than Old Home Week.
After paying the full price to get in …(!!!) then it was just really a walking tour of the entire fair.
From here on in, it was all about farming and farming related stuff …
After all the farming stuff, it was time to head on out and head to Victoria Row for some drinks on the patio. Now that’s something worth writing home about!
