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As a child growing up in Edmonton in the 1960s, Peter Male took on his first job: delivering newspapers by bicycle.

He saved up his money so that he could go experience the thrills of Klondike Days, as the city’s long-running fair was then called.

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“It was the thrill of the rides, as a young boy,” Male, now 64, recalled Wednesday. “But it was also the animals. As an urban kid, you don’t see that, so when you walk into that environment and you actually encounter that, it’s one of the most precious things you can give a kid.”

Now, with a half-century standing between Male and those memories, he returns to the fair he loved faced with a tall task as the new president and CEO of Northlands — guiding K-Days through a period of uncertainty and changing the direction of Northlands.

Stepping into the position at the start of June — and coming out of retirement to do so — hasn’t given Male much time to adjust to the new role.