By Charmaine

It’s that time of year again – the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair has arrived! Running from November 4-13, city slickers with a penchant for the rustic, and displaced country folk looking to get a taste of home can look forward to the sights, sounds, and, yes, smells of the barnyard.
Torontoist was really looking forward to playing with and cooing over baby chicks (we’ve retained fond memories from our Grade 10 science class field trip to the Fair), with their pastel-yellow down and extreme cuteness, but unfortunately, the Poultry and Exotic Bird competition and show will be cancelled this year due to that nasty bird flu that’s been going around. Damn.
In any case, we still eagerly anticipate inspecting prize-winning sheep, 3,000-pound bulls (no, not that one), piglets, bunnies, horses, ponies, and more.
Amazingly, the Royal Winter Fair is the largest indoor combined agricultural, horticultural, canine and equestrian event in the world! Despite this, our German intern D. declined our suggestion to go, because she hates animals. Party pooper.