A Royal good time

November is an important month because it’s the month your mom was born, and also when the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair comes to the big city of Toronto. Most people just call it The Royal.

It’s when all kinds of things you usually find in the country, like horses, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks and rabbits come to downtown Toronto to Exhibition Place. Your mother loved the Royal and we went together almost every year. I think she may have even taken you when you were a baby – I know she was excited for the Royal to be a tradition for you too.

The horse shows are very exciting because the best riders in Canadian and the world come to jump big fences in show-jumping classes. All kinds of other horses are there too, like big work horses, and little ponies, and horses that pull carts.

There are so many things to see and do. There is so much awesome food – my favourites are the potato rosti, that is shredded potatoes with cheese, and the apple blossoms, that are apples cooked in pastry and served with ice cream. They are so delicious! You can shop for a lot of things, like stuff for horses and dogs, toys, clothes and candies.

You can see people carving sculptures out of butter, and pumpkins bigger than beach balls. You can pet goats and llamas. There are some funny things to watch, like the Super Dogs doing obstacle courses, ducks that play little pianos and show-jumping bunnies.

Here are a couple photos from about 10 years ago when your mom and I went to the Royal. She is with a celebrity chef but I can’t remember his name. I’m sure she knows who it is! And that year, they had the show-jumping bunnies! There were no jumping bunnies this year, but there were show bunnies in cages.

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