Be careful where you park the next time you go to the Brigden Fair.

St. Clair Township council has agreed to ban parking along portions of Courtright Line and on Brigden Road south of Courtright for the entire month of October, hoping to reduce the traffic jams during the Thanksgiving weekend fair which can attract upwards of 50,000 people.

The Moore Agricultural Society and the OPP asked for the parking ban and township council agreed to ban parking on both sides of Courtright Line from Elizabeth Street to 2516 Courtright Line and on Brigden Road between Courtright Line and Oil Heritage Road in October.

John Scott, the president of the Moore Agricultural Society, says people parking on the road is a traffic hazard. On Courtright Line, parked cars block the vision of vehicles leaving the fairgrounds and there isn’t room for parking on Brigden Road.

“There’s no shoulders at all,” he says adding even police have problems getting through. “One of the officers was heading south down Brigden road going home and he actually had to stop to allow cars to get through because there wasn’t enough room for two vehicles.”

Efforts to restrict parking on the roads in the past failed. Scott says people simply knocked down traffic barrels and parked anyway.

Scott says there is no need for people to park on the roads. “We offer free parking on the grounds and we offer people movers on the grounds to get the people from here to there and you know, you’re gonna get put strollers on and you so you can take your kids and everything else.”

Scott says with council’s approval OPP will be able to ticket those in No Parking Zones.

“I know there is going to be screaming and I’m prepared for it…we’ll live with a lot….we feel that it will be a better environment safety wise.”