By Angela Brown

Battlefords Agricultural Society reports strong numbers from exhibition

Aug 22, 2022 | 2:36 PM

It was a great week for the Battlefords Agricultural Society as it wrapped up their Northwest Territorial Days Exhibition with some great numbers.

The event ran from Aug. 17 to 19 at the exhibition grounds in North Battleford, with the parade on Aug. 16 kicking off the festivities.

General manager, Jocelyn Ritchie, couldn’t be happier.

“It was awesome,” she said. “Our attendance was up. Our midway sales were way up. So it was a good year.”

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The annual exhibition is a major fundraiser for the organization.

Since the full-scale event hasn’t been held since 2019 prior to the pandemic, having strong numbers was important for this year’s event. While a fair was held in 2021, it was a much smaller attraction and did not include entertainment or shows.

The 2022 exhibition figures saw a significant increase compared to 2019, which was also a good year. About 18,000 people attended this year over the three days, while in 2019 about 15,000 attended. For an average year, the NWT Days sees around 16,000 people coming through the gates.

“I think we had really great entertainment,” Ritchie added. “People were just ready to come out.”

She said with COVID winding down, “it was time to get out and have some fun.”

As a non-profit, the Battlefords Agricultural Society relies on revenue from the NWT Days to keep going.

“We needed it,” Ritchie said. “After being pretty much closed for two years we were getting a little low on funds. So we really needed to have a good fair. I want to thank everybody that stood behind us; our sponsors, volunteers and our staff, and all the non-profit organizations that ran their booths this year. Everybody I think benefitted from it. It was great to be [back to normal] again.”

As well, she noted Midway sales were also good this year, with numbers 20 per cent higher than they have been in the past.

As a change for this year, the Demo Derby was not held as part of the exhibition. However, fortunately it did not make any difference in attendance. The event will instead take place on Aug. 27.

The exhibition included many agricultural-related events this year, including a Light Horse Show with 4-H event, multiple class participants, and gymkhana events. The chariots and chuckwagons show also went ahead as planned over the three days.

Ritchie noted there was no draft horse show this year due to high fuel costs to transport the heavy horses as well as other costs associated with travel.

“We’re hoping next year we can get some sort of show together again,” she said. “It’s very nice to have them, and they are beautiful horses. We’ll see what next year brings.”

Among some of the popular highlights of the exhibition this year were a kids’ tractor pull and a wide variety of entertainment.

“Again, I really want to stress, thank you very much for everybody that attended, all our sponsors, all our committee, staff and volunteers,” Ritchie said on the success of the fair. “It was great, and we couldn’t have done it without all of you guys.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW