Save the Port Perry Fair group encouraging residents to show up at council meeting

The Port Perry Agricultural Society, stewards of the Port Perry Fair since 1910, is encouraging its supporters to be at Scugog Township’s town hall Monday evening to have their voices heard on the future of the historic Port Perry Fairgrounds.

The final report of a consultant hired by the township to perform a ‘visioning exercise’ on the future of the fairgrounds is recommending Scugog take over the lease on the property from the agricultural society and sell off four of the site’s 23 acres.

After being told for months by Scugog Council that the exercise was not a precursor for development, the Port Perry Agricultural Society is calling that recommendation a “breach of public trust.”

“This report confirms exactly what we feared from the start,” said agricultural society president Paul Puckrin. “The township spent months insisting this was simply a community visioning exercise, while planning all along to take back the property, terminate our lease, and sell part of the fairgrounds for development. We have all been misled.”

Scugog Council will be considering a staff report, based on the visioning exercise that began in the fall at a special council meeting Monday, beginning at 5:30 p.m..

“The staff report recommends ending our lease, taking over the fairgrounds and selling four acres for development,” the society said in a post on their socials. “We encourage everyone to proceed to the Township of Scugog municipal building on Monday to support saving the Port Perry Fair.”

The post also reminded residents that signs and placards are not permitted inside the municipal building or council chambers. A “high level of decorum” is also expected from visitors and the organization asks that its supporters “refrain from applause and other expressions of emotion. Outbursts, criticisms, and inappropriate language will not be tolerated.”

The rhetoric surrounding the visioning exercise for the future of the Port Perry Fairgrounds had softened a bit in recent months but all that goodwill went out the window late Thursday with the release of the final report from Toronto consulting firm Darwin Pivot.

A staff report on the future of the property declared the township plans to “reimagine” use of the property to “better serve the local community and the township year-round.”

“The Port Perry Agricultural Society can continue with the fair on the site under a no-cost special event permit from 2027 and onward, with reasonable notice provided to end the existing month-to-month lease,” the report read.

The majority of the property – 19 of the 23 acres – will be set aside as a new Township Park with open space/event grounds areas, community use areas, and recreational space/facilities, while the remaining four acres adjacent to the intersection of Old Simcoe Road and Reach Street will be sold “preferably for seniors residential/mixed-use development” to fund improvements to the remainder of the property, the report stated.

A special reserve fund will be created to hold any sale proceeds, grant funding, or donations related to the property, with the revenue only to be used for improvements to the fairgrounds.

The agricultural society will no longer be in charge of managing the property under the new arrangement, with Scugog Township taking over long-term stewardship and possession of the property to “action and manage” an implementation plan that will be brought to council next year.