1914-11-06mm

“After making elaborate preparations for the past twelve months for the silver anniversary show of Hamilton and Wentworth Poultry association which is to e held this week, the officials of the association were informed late Friday afternoon that the show could not be held in the drill hall.”

Hamilton Spectator.   November 09, 1914.

Not only was it mere days before just another annual show of the Hamilton and Wentworth Poultry association, it was days before a very special silver anniversary show for which major preparations had been made.

The show was scheduled to take place in the drill hall, the older, northerly portion of the armories on James street north.

The organizers of the 1914 show were informed that another location would have to be found:

“The need of the hall for military operations was given as the reason for this decision, although eight or nine commanding officers connected with the local garrison were of the opinion that operations would not have been interfered with in any way.

“Deprived of the only desirable place in the city for the staging of such a show as the local affair has developed into, the officials of the association were forced to do some maneuvering to land a place in which to place the birds.”¹

¹ “Poultry Show Opens Tuesday : Three Thousand Fancy Birds Will Be Exhibited”

Hamilton Spectator.   November 6, 1914.

Fortunately, an alternative location was secured nearby :

“At a late hour Saturday, the officials were fortunate enough to secure the Armory hall, or as it has been more recently known, the Cadillac garage and showrooms, on James Street north, opposite the old drill hall.”

“This place has been utilized to the best advantage, with the result that the show will be staged in exceedingly good style, with all the birds well-cooped and displayed.”¹

The Spectator pulled no punches in commenting on the last minute decision to force the Poultry show out of the drill hall:

“The action of the local military officials in putting so much in the path of the Poultry association speaks only too strongly for the high-handed manner in which some of the officers are inclined to act.”¹

The Spectator reporter went on to extoll the importance of the annual exhibition:

“The poultry show is the only important annual exhibition of any sort held in this city. For 25 years it has been an annual fixture, and in then past few years has gradually developed until today it is the most important and largest all-poultry exhibition in Canada.”¹

Over three thousand entries had been received for the 1914 Hamilton show with exhibitors coming from great distances, including Rochester, New York, Port Arthur, Ontario and Sommerville, Massachusetts to name just a few.

A huge variety of birds were to be on display;

“Rare and beautiful pheasants and jungle fowl, to all kinds of waterfowl, will be on exhibition. Five hundred fancy pigeons and several hundred of the best examples of the bantam world were also entered.

“The result is one of the most delightful displays of the feathered world that has ever been offered to the public in any Canadian city.”¹

The show opened on Tuesday, November 9, 1914 and ran until the end of the week. The doors opened to the public from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day. Over $4,000 in prize money was available to winning entries.

A Spectator reporter visited the show on its second day of operation that it had been “very tastefully laid out, and the many visitors who visited the exhibition were loud in their praises of the manner in which the show is being handled. Some three thousand fancy poultry are on exhibition and the judges are finding their tasks anything but easy.”²

² “Poultry Show in Full Swing : Nearly 3,000 Fanciers Have Birds on Exhibit”

Hamilton Spectator.   November 11, 1914.

The most unusual of the birds to be exhibited was a four-footed duck, one of a clutch hatched out the previous spring by a Hamilton area breeder:

“He is a full-grown drake and is just as active as any of the normal members of the family. The two additional legs with which he is blessed are only about half as long as the regular pair, and are used only when swimming, thus affording Mr. Duck an extra pair of propellers.

“Considerable interest has been manifested in this strange member of the feathered world.”³

³ “Four-Footed Duck at Poultry Show : Freak is Interesting Feature of Big Exhibit”

Hamilton Spectator. November 12, 1914.

Once again the officials of the Hamilton and Wentworth Poultry association were lauded:

“Every effort has been made to lay out the show in as an attractive manner as possible, and the management received many justly earned compliments from exhibitors and enthusiasts, who were loud in their praise of the manner in which the best of a difficult job had been made.

“When it is considered that the association did not know definitely until Friday night that they would not have the use of the old drill hall, and did not know until Saturday noon just where the show would be held, it can readily be seen that wonders have been accomplished.

“The exhibition is the most important all-poultry show of the year and one in which great pride should be taken by the citizens.”³

When the silver anniversary show of the Hamilton and Wentworth Poultry association was brought to a close, it was deemed the most successful of all 25 such shows put on by the local group.