Photo: Summerland Museum & Archives Society

With Saturday being the fall equinox, the Summerland Museum & Archives Society decided to share a throwback of the district's celebration 55 years ago.

Photos were chosen to highlight the 1968 Summerland Fall Fair, which the museum said demonstrates the importance of the agricultural heritage to the town.

"The Summerland Fall Fair began life as the Apple Fair, with the inaugural fair taking place on Oct. 7, 1909. The Apple Fair was established to promote the town's fruit industry, both locally and to a wider Canadian and global audience," the museum said in their post.

The fair grew over the decades to encompass a wider range of agricultural produce and traditions, plus family entertainment.

In 1968, the fair took place from Sept. 8 to 17, with much of the festivities taking place next to the Badminton Hall, on the very site where the museum is now located.

In one of the photos, the royalty float from that year can be seen as a part of the grand parade, with Miss Summerland Lynn Gartrell and Princesses Pat Morrissy and Maureen Fitzpatrick.

The Fall Fair was continuously held in Summerland from 1909 to 2014. Then in 2015, organizers chose not to hold the event because of financial uncertainties and a shortage of board members.

"Thankfully the fair returned in 2018, and we saw a fabulous Fall Fair on the lawn in front of the museum a couple of weeks ago."

The Summerland Museum & Archives Society shares photos and information from their archives every week for throwback Thursday on their social media, which can be found online here.

Photo: Summerland Museum & Archives Society

Photo: Summerland Museum & Archives Society