By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
The University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus is opening its doors to the past, present and future in a pair of events this weekend.
The annual Spring Expo takes place on Friday, featuring a full day of events for current students, alumni, and the public.
Ridgetown Campus’ students of the future will get a first-hand look at the agricultural programs during the annual Spring Open House on Saturday.
Friday’s Spring Expo will serve as an unofficial homecoming, with Ridgetown College grads returning to spend the day watching demonstrations and participating in events.
There will be livestock shows, a tractor display and parade, a plant sale and a hockey game as alumni take on students.
Wyatt Brauer, President of the Spring Expo, said Ridgetown College doesn’t have athletics like other colleges and universities, which hold their homecoming weekends around football games or other sports.
“We don’t have sports, we have livestock,” Brauer said. “My hope is this will act as a homecoming type of event with the livestock show the main focal point, along with other fun activities for alumni to participate in or spectate throughout the day.”
“It will be a homecoming for alumni to mingle, talk about their time in Ridgetown, what they’re doing now in the industry and also give them a chance to interact with the current students,” stated Brauer.
Spring Expo starts at 8 a.m. with a dairy show, followed at 10:30 a.m. with a sheep show and a beef cattle show at 1 p.m.
The fun moves to the East Kent Memorial Arena for the Alumni-Student Hockey Game at 2 p.m., then heads back to the campus for a sheep celebrity show at 3:30 p.m., a dog agility show in the gym at 3:45 p.m. and the tractor parade at 4 p.m.
The Supreme Show caps the day’s activities at 4:30 p.m. as the top two finishers in each of the dairy, sheep and beef shows will square off to determine the overall champions.
All of the livestock shows will take place on the main lawn in front of Steckley Hall.
The plant sale runs from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in the greenhouse, while the tractors will be staged in the parking lot before the afternoon parade around the campus.
The Ridge school pub will be open from 12 noon to 7 p.m., offering beverages and food for guests to eat in or take out while watching the activities.
Brauer said Spring Expo notifications were sent to alumni and former faculty via email and other contact information on file.
“We’re happy with the response,” Brauer said. “We have about 15 former students saying they’re coming back to play in the hockey game, some who graduated in the 1980s.”
“We’ll have a wide age range, which is what we’re hoping for,” Brauer said, as Ridgetown College had a team in the former East Kent Rural Men’s League from the 60s to the early 80s.
Brauer said over 110 students will be showing livestock, while several vet tech students will take part in the dog agility exhibition, and expects upwards of 25-30 tractors on display and participating in the parade.
“We’re hoping to make this the biggest Spring Expo ever,” Brauer said. “It gives a chance for students and faculty to show off what they’ve been working on over the past year.”
Brauer said this year’s Spring Expo is offering more activities than in the past to make the event bigger each year, bring more alumni back, and shine a spotlight on everything Ridgetown College offers students interested in a career in agriculture.
“Ridgetown Campus is an awesome place, whether you’re coming here for agriculture, the vet program, horticulture or the environment,” said Brauer. “Having animals and crops on campus is a very valuable learning benefit by providing hands-on experience,” he stated. “It’s a very unique experience at Ridgetown, the time you get to spend in the barns or in the fields.”
Students will be coming to Ridgetown College in September, and others still looking to choose a college or course will be given the red carpet treatment at Saturday’s Spring Open House.
Students will learn more about the college’s diploma, certificate and apprenticeship programs, tour the campus, attend experiential learning demonstrations and connect with staff and students.
Ridgetown College offers programs in Agriculture, Dairy, Environment, Equine, Horticulture, Veterinary Assistant and Veterinary Technology.
Students will have the opportunity to talk with their instructors, attend experiential learning demonstrations and learn about co-op opportunities and campus resources.
They will tour the college’s learning spaces, facilities, residence and dining areas.
Students will also connect with housing and hospitality services, get a taste of student life, clubs and leadership opportunities available.
The drop-in open house runs from 1-4 p.m., as visitors can register in the Rudy H. Brown Rural Development Centre.
