Southlands Country Fair

Today, my munchkin and I escaped to a little piece of rural paradise, right here in the city of Vancouver. We spent our day out at Southlands Riding Club (just off of SW Marine Drive), at their annual Country Fair and it certainly did not disappoint. The fair, which raises money to support the club, as well as their summer riding program for underprivileged children and two other local charities that run programs for disabled riders, was wonderful… The perfect way to spend a day with little ones, really. Besides horse entertainment and demonstrations all day long, there were pony rides, hay rides, a petting farm, a vendors’ market filled with local goods, musical entertainment, a huge farm yard fun area bursting with old-fashioned activities for little ones, and more. Grae and I arrived in time for opening, stayed well past her usual nap time, and could have stayed for at least two hours more.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was the pony rides (and not just for Grae – it seems most families felt the same way). Though I’d read about how busy the pony ride area was in years past, I thought Southlands had a great system this time around. Basically, you visited a booth to sign up for your pony ride time slots, then went about your day and reported to the ring only once it was your designated time. Because the line was only for time selections, it moved fairly quickly despite its length. Luckily, I thought ahead and signed up for two time slots {an hour apart}, guessing that Gracen would love her first horse riding experience and want to go again. And thank goodness I did. The first thing out of her mouth after getting off her pony was, “More pony riding?”

Here’s a look at our day in photos…

First pony ride.