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Holly Bus to represent town at CNE competition

August 19, 2015   ·   0 Comments

Orangeville’s Fall Fair Ambassador will be representing her ambassadorial skills and the Orangeville Agricultural Society at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) this weekend in the annual Ambassador of the Fairs contest.

The contest, which is open to all current Fair Ambassadors/Queens, compares their public speaking, interview, and ambassadorial skills, in a competition to identify the new Ambassador; a prestigious title as part of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies.

Holly Bus, a former Orangeville District Secondary School student, was awarded the title of Fall Fair Ambassador at last year’s Orangeville Fall Fair, following the annual Friday night competition. Throughout the past year, she has attended other fairs and agricultural events, representing the Orangeville Agricultural Society at each.

“It’s been really amazing, I just love it,” said Ms. Bus. “I’ve had the opportunity to go to all sorts of different events and talk to lots of people. I just really enjoy getting to go to different places and explain about our role as an agricultural society in our area. I get to tell people what it does, and how we represent our local agriculture.”

This year, there will be 93 different Ambassadors competing at the CNE. Ms. Bus says the contestants are being split into four groups, and each person is interviewed by the judges. In between interviews, they are required to attend seminars at the CNE.

“We’re marked on our interviews, and on our introduction of ourselves, which we do on a stage,” she explained. “From there, the top 10 get to go on, and that’s when we are required to give a speech.”

The judges will then select three contestants based on their speeches, and those final Ambassadors will go head to head to answer a random question given to them by the panel. Based on their answers, the new Ambassador of the Fairs, the second runner-up and the congeniality award are announced.

Ms. Bus has been spending the last few weeks preparing for the competition, which will take place this coming Saturday and Sunday. Along with memorizing a sheet of approximately 50 facts about the CNE, she has also been working tirelessly to come up with an award-winning speech, that could hopefully land her the winning spot.

“I’ve been fiddling with a couple of ideas right now,” she said, adding that she has been torn between these two ideas for a while. “It’s been hard for me to decide; I wrote the one and it was a great idea, but when I was writing the introduction, it ended up being a stronger point for the other idea. Both have different aspects, but they’re both important parts of agriculture.”

Her first idea is about looking at how the rural areas with agriculture and the city are both different, but both require each other to move forward.

The second is looking at the idea that many people believe the city is what influences the agricultural business, but in reality it’s agriculture that has been influencing the way cities grow and change.

“One topic focuses more on the job opportunities factor, while the other focuses on the change people have been making under the realization that we need to be more agriculturally friendly,” explained Ms. Bus. “There has been a growing interest in ideas like green roofs (gardens/green plants on house and building roofs), and Carrot City. It’s amazing the way agriculture is influencing the cities.”

Carrot City is a research initiative that looks into how design can enable greater food production in cities through different types of urban food systems.

“Whichever one I go with, I’m just really excited to see who wins,” said Ms. Bus. “All the competitors are just so amazing. I’m excited to meet them all again and form more of the bonds we’ve been forming over the last year. I can’t wait to support my fellow Ambassadors. Whoever does win is going to be absolutely amazing at it.”

The final portion of the competition where the top 10 competitors share their speeches will be held at 2 p.m on Sunday, August 23, in the CNE’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The new Ambassador of the Fairs will be publicly presented at the theatre at 4 p.m. The competition is open to the public.

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