2024 Community Appreciation Award
The Comber Agricultural Society would like to recognize Tim and Sam Ferriss as this year’s recipients of the Community Appreciation Award. Sam (nee Robert) grew up on William Street in Comber. She became involved in the Comber Fair at a young age by being an exhibitor in the children’s section. When she became older she worked the baseball booth during the weekend of the fair. Tim grew up in a rural area between McGregor and Essex with Harrow being his home fair. It was always a competition to see who could make more from their exhibits at each other’s fairs.
By 2018 a board member (Ron Reaume) approached Tim and Sam asking if they would be willing to take over the management of the Comber Fair poultry barn from Monique and Roger Marentette who wanted to retire after many years of leading the poultry division. Tim and Sam were the perfect fit for this position since they were raising show chickens such as Chantercler, Australorp and Rhode Island Red. They had shown their poultry at the Royal Winter, London, Brigden, Harrow and Comber Fairs. They even had their high quality poultry shipped to Quebec and BritishColumbia. Not only did they manage the poultry barn during the fair weekend but they also were proud to have given the barn itself much needed maintenance as well as installing new fans and better lighting.
With a grandson in 4H, they encouraged the local Essex County 4H members to exhibit their birds at the Comber Fair. This particular exhibit quickly grew and now has record breaking entries. Their most memorable moment with the Fair was establishing perpetual trophies in honour of Roger and Monique Marentette as well as Dave Affleck. It was important to both Tim and Sam to keep the legacy of tthese hard-working volunteers alive.
The advice they have for any future Fair volunteer is, “Do your best!”
It’s important to showcase the agriculture part of the Fair in order to educate the public where their food comes from, especially those who are not from a farm. They also believe that 4H is a great opportunity for our youth regardless if they are from a farm or not. They can have fun while learning about agriculture and continue to build on their skills as they progress through the various clubs. Tim and Sam Ferriss strongly believe volunteering is one of the better things you can do in life to give back to your community.