Goodbye to SuperEX at Ottawa's Lansdowne Park

(08/26/10) Ottawa's Central Canada Exhibition was established back in 1888. Except for a break during World War Two, every year it returned as the largest fair in the area, remembered by generations as a last, happy gasp of summer.

Some things changed: September dates were moved to August. Agriculture now plays second fiddle to mid-way rides. And the event was re-branded as the SuperEX. But the location stayed the same. For 122 years, fair-goers flocked to Lansdowne Park, alongside the Rideau Canal, a site that eventually included a football stadium and hockey rink.

Plans are well underway to redevelop that prime urban space, generating considerable public debate about Lansdowne Park's best use. SuperEX was one of the losers. It must move - or die.

The most likely sanctuary lies some ten miles away, near a rural race track-casino. Lucy Martin went to SuperEX earlier this week looking for impressions and memories. And to ask what, if anything, regular folks want preserved.