Kay the Sheep ‘used to the spotlight,’ takes public transit to Winter Fair

GO Train commuters may have been taken a-ba-ba-ba-back this morning when a sheep was brought on a morning train headed to the Union Station.

But, it wasn’t just any sheep.

Miss. Kay is a year-and-a-half year old Polled Dorset yearling ewe. She is also the 2023 Royal Ambassador for the Royal Winter Fair.

“You wouldn’t think it was [her first time using public transit],” Katie Brown, director of marketing for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. “But it actually was her first time – maybe the first time a sheep has ever been on the GO Train.”

While Thursday marked Miss. Kay’s first trip downtown using public transit, it is actually not the first time that an animal being featured at the Royal Winter Fair made the trek.

Last year, Turbo the Goat, who served as the fair’s Royal Ambassador in 2015, rode the green-and-white train in from Scarborough as part of a similar marketing stunt.

Speaking with CTV News Toronto, Brown said that Miss. Kay was part of a special event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fair last year so she is “used to the spotlight.”

She said that she took the looks she got while making the commute in stride.

“Today she was soaking it all up,” Brown said.

Miss. Kay will be at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair this year, which begins on Friday.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online on the Royal Fair’s website.

“We’re encouraging you to come down and say hello to Kay, get your picture taken with her and just have a great time.”