SPENCERVILLE - With the grand opening of the Drummond building Saturday at the Spencerville fairgrounds, George Drummond saw his dream of a first-class banquet and show-ring facility become a reality. Or almost.

The building is 98 percent complete and Drummond says everything will be ready for the Spencerville Fair, Sept. 10-13, or he will "tear it all down with my own hands." The betting is it will be ready.

The building is a gift from Drummond to the community he grew up in and to the Fair in which his ancestors and family have participated since it first began 143 years ago. Drummond put up about $1 million of his own money to see the project through, with help from a number of other local donations that have been recognized with inscription on a black marble plaque that graces the front entrance. Among those donations were the electric glass entrance doors from the now defunct Perley Hospital in Ottawa. Drummond estimates the real total cost of the building at 1.4 million.

The buildings three sections cover 28,500 sq. ft., with a 3,500 sq. ft. service area that includes a offices, storage area, cloakroom and ticket office, a bar, huge kitchen and large washrooms.

The 5,200 sq. ft. banquet hall to be used for meetings, wedding receptions and dances with be licensed for 500 people.

The 20,000 sq. ft. heated show arena is a year-round facility that could be used for any number of horse and livestock shows. And to top it off, an extra 200,000 was put into adding a huge parking area north of the building that will easily hold 700 vehicles.

No expense was spared in the in fixtures and equipment to make the building a state of the art facility. For example. the show arena features 50 (400 watt) lamps that cost $300 each. The service and banquet area boasts a $40,000 in-floor, top-of-the-line heating system.

The obvious question is - what made Drummond decide to reach so deeply into his pockets? But the Drummond roots run deep in this rural community.

The first Drummonds arrived in the Spencerville area in the 1790s as United Empire Loyalists to serve in the local militia. A George Drummond fell in battle with the Americans in the War of 1812 when troops from Fort Wellington captured the city of Ogdensburg across the river from Prescott. Another Drummond, Peter, took part in the Battle of the Windmill in 1848 when the local militia and volunteers repelled invading Fenians setting out from Ogdensburg.

The first Drummond in the area received a land grant of 3,500 acres that stretched north from just west of Spencerville to Burrits Rapids and to the east included part of what is now Kemptville. Drummonds were there for the first Spencerville Fair in 1835 and at the fair George Drummond still displays maple syrup from the 200 acre farm that is all that remains of the first land grant, a concern begun in 1802 that is the longest continuous sugar bush operation in Ontario.

Drummond has done well with various business interests that include a thriving fuel business and a construction operation. But the idea to do something for the community he loved came to him after a windfall profit of well over $1 million in selling his interest in a quarry, money that he decided to put aside for something special.

At first he thought of leaving something to the Fair in his will, then his accountant said if you want to do something, why not build them a building? He had always thought that Spencerville badly needed a first class banquet facility and why not add a show arena as well?

Originally he planned to donate $600,000 to the project, but somehow that figure kept growing. The project has eaten up most of the last year for Drummond, and for the past five months he has been on the site. After all, rather than wait until you're dead, you might as well do it while you're alive and be there to see that it's done right.

"I'm very proud of the building, we did more maybe than we had to do, but it was worth it," Drummond said.

Drummond plans to keep active with the Fair and hopes to keep an eye on the building to see that it is used to its full potential.

"This building could be a gold mine for the Spencerville Fair if it is used the way it should be," he said. "I would like to see someone appointed, maybe just part-time to begin with, to manage the building. Someone who can go out and get business and will have their hands free to make full use of it."

"With proper promotion it can't help but be a winner," he said. All proceeds from the building will go to the Spencerville Fair and he hopes the building will still be here generating money for the fair a hundred years or longer into the future.

He also hopes people will make a special effort to come to the Fair this year to see the building, and to help persuade them he is sponsoring a tractor pull on Sunday, the last day of the fair featuring antique tractors and horses.

Stretching his hand high over his head, Drummond says, "I feel that tall when I look at this building. I'm just very proud to have done this." I guess no one would argue, he has a right to be proud.