Coffee, Community and a Weekend at the Brome Fair

For most of us at Virgin Hill Coffee, the Brome Fair is much more than another event on the calendar. We are local, and many of us grew up going to the fair every year. Now we get to bring our own kids, which makes being there with Virgin Hill feel like a bit of a full-circle moment.

Every year, when the fair rolls around, we pack up our Airstream and head to the fairgrounds, ready for a busy weekend of coffee, familiar faces and plenty of fun.

A little history of the Brome Fair

The Brome Fair has been part of the local community for generations. Its history goes back to 1856, when the Brome County Agricultural Society was established in Knowlton. The first exhibitions were held in Knowlton before the Society purchased land at Brome Corners, where the first fair at the current location was held in 1891.

More than 160 years later, the fair remains an important part of life in the Eastern Townships. While it has grown considerably over the years, it is still a place where local families, farmers, businesses and volunteers come together for a few days each summer.

For us, being part of that tradition is something we look forward to every year.

The Virgin Hill Airstream comes to the fair

Our Airstream becomes a little Virgin Hill coffee shop on wheels during the Brome Fair. We bring it to the fairgrounds and serve almost our full drink menu throughout the weekend, giving fairgoers the chance to enjoy many of the same drinks they would order at our Atelier.

At the fair, we serve our Espresso Owl's, which is what we use for the espresso-based drinks coming out of the Airstream. Fairgoers can order everything from cortados, flat whites and lattes to mochas, caramel lattes and chai lattes.

For anyone looking for something cold, we have iced lattes, frappés, cold brew and Italian sodas. We also offer milkshakes in the same flavours as our frappés, which makes them a popular choice for kids and anyone who would rather skip the caffeine.

We even bring along alternative milks and donuts, so there is plenty to choose from when you stop by the Airstream.

Friday at the fair is a little different

Friday is always a particularly fun day for us because the Eastern Township School Board takes the day off and makes a trip to the fair. School buses arrive throughout the day, bringing students to the fairgrounds, with teachers and parents looking after groups as they explore everything the fair has to offer.

You can see the school colours from a mile away. There are kids everywhere, and not all of them are looking for coffee. That is why we make sure there are plenty of options for everyone. Alongside our coffee drinks, we serve milkshakes in the same flavours, with the milkshakes simply made without the coffee. We also have Italian sodas and hot chocolate, so there are plenty of choices for the younger fairgoers.

It is also one of the reasons the Airstream can get pretty busy. Between the school groups, families and everyone else enjoying the fair, there is almost always something happening around us.

A little bit of an annual reunion

One of our favourite parts of the Brome Fair is seeing all the local people who come out for the weekend. Most of our team is local, so we recognize a lot of the faces that stop at the Airstream, and there are even people we only see once a year when the fair comes around.

Someone will walk up to the window and we will catch up on what has happened since last year's fair, or a familiar customer will show up with their family and we get to see how much their kids have grown. Those little moments are a big part of what makes the weekend so enjoyable for our team.

It feels less like we are simply setting up at an event and more like the whole community is getting together for the weekend.

The fair is busy, loud and sometimes a little chaotic, but that is part of what makes it so much fun. We get to spend the weekend serving coffee, talking with people from the area and seeing customers outside of our usual setting at the Atelier.

Our connection to the fair goes beyond coffee

Our relationship with the Brome Fair goes a little deeper than bringing the Airstream each year. One of our employees is also a director of the fair, so someone from our own team is involved in helping make the event happen behind the scenes.

We also have team members volunteering throughout the weekend, giving us another perspective on just how much work goes into putting on an event of this size. By the time fairgoers arrive, there has already been a tremendous amount of planning and preparation happening behind the scenes.

We want to do our part to take care of the people who make the fair possible, which is why we provide free coffee to the fair volunteers throughout the weekend. It is a small way for us to say thank you to the people who spend long hours helping everything run smoothly.

Coffee that gives back

The Airstream is also an opportunity for us to give back to the community that supports us throughout the year. This year, the proceeds from our Airstream at the Brome Fair will be donated to the Christian Vachon Foundation.

The Christian Vachon Foundation supports children and families across Quebec, and we are proud to contribute to its work through our involvement at the fair. It makes the weekend even more meaningful for our team because the coffee we serve can help support a cause that matters to us and to communities across the province.

For us, this is one of the best parts of being involved in local events. We get to spend the weekend doing something we love while contributing to the community that has supported our business for so many years.

See you at the Brome Fair

For us, the Brome Fair has become one of those weekends that we look forward to every year. We get to bring the Airstream, serve a whole lot of coffee, catch up with people we know and spend time with our local community outside of the Atelier.

Whether you have been coming to the fair for years or are making your first visit, come find the Virgin Hill Airstream while you are there. Grab your usual coffee, try something different or bring the kids by for a milkshake, an Italian soda or a hot chocolate.

And if you are one of the people we only get to see once a year at the fair, we will be happy to see you again. See you at the Brome Fair!

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