Let's Go To The Ex

Princes' Gates entrance to CNE with Midway in background.

Last week we went to the Canadian National Exhibition, or CNE.

To our Usian friends, this is like a state fair. The Ex, as it’s affectionately known, has been around since 1879. It started originally as an agricultural fair and grew from there. To those of you who are familiar with Toronto’s nickname of “hogtown”, the nickname came from the CNE since "market" livestock was often sent from the CNE to the meat processing plants in Toronto.

The Ex takes place for 18 days, starting around mid-August and ending on Labour day. When I was a child we always went, and it was an exciting end to our summer vacations. Today there are bigger and better theme parks for the kids to go to, but the Ex still has a lot of charm.

3 boys had lots of fun. We bought them a Midway pass, so they rode everything.

We had so much fun we stayed until closing.