Volunteer of the year

Muriel Day of Creemore is this year’s recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award at her Local Fair from the GNE/Collingwood Agricultural Society.

Day, who was raised on a farm in Banda, has been active with her local fair since 1974, working in the food booth and at other special events. She is a life member of the GNE.

How did Day get started volunteering?

“I was conned,” she joked. In the 1970s, Day was working at Devil’s Glen Country Club with Mary Beth Wilson. Wilson asked her if she would like to be a judge at the fair. To prepare, Day signed up for the first of four courses on judging she would eventually attend.

Since then, Day hasn’t looked back. Her stint as Fair President from 1998-1999 proved colourful. That year, she showed up in style to the Ride for Sight motorcycle charity fundraiser wearing a leather vest.

The same year, she challenged the men of the fair to make a quilt. They responded with a quilt that was raffled off for $3,000 for the fair.

“They haven’t made a quilt since; one was enough,” said Day, laughing.

Day credits her long history of volunteering at the fair with her enjoyment of the people and of the whole event.

Her commitment is unwavering. In all her eight years on the executive committee, she only missed one meeting when her late husband, Bill Day, was having surgery in Toronto.