Westerner Days 2019. (rdnewsNOW / Josh Hall)

By Sheldon Spackman

Planning continues

Renewed confidence for Westerner Days with Alberta’s reopening plan

May 28, 2021 | 8:57 AM

The CEO for Westerner Park says Alberta’s ‘Open for Summer Plan’ gives them reason for hope when it comes to having Westerner Days in 2021.

Mike Olesen hopes the reopening plan comes to fruition and the event is able to operate safely.

“I’ve always maintained that we need to have the long view in mind. I mean, I want to open today if we can, but at the same time, not at the cost of delaying any future or sustained ability to run events for what we do at Westerner Park,” he explained. “We were certainly surprised by the ambition and aggressiveness of (the plan). It’s quite a transition from the second stage to ‘wide open.’”

Olesen says they’ve been preparing for this day and are excited for the opportunities that it brings.

“You still need to maintain a fairly guarded approach because especially with major events, you can really overcommit yourself with resources both human and financial getting into events. You still need to gauge that because there’s a lot of “ifs” in that plan obviously still as well.”

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Olesen admits the reopening plan does offer a certain degree of confidence for hosting this year’s event.

“The short to mid-term future, this gives us confidence that with what base we’ve been planning, we’ll be able to follow through on that,” he says.

“Certainly with Westerner Days we’ve been looking at outdoor programming as our primary focus and the reason we do that, is just obviously, outdoor is a lot more controllable in terms of the COVID exposure. And the sheer size of our grounds, we have plenty of space to certainly ensure that we at least meet the minimum standard as outlined by AHS, but easily exceed that as well and still balance out a proper experience for the spectator that comes.”

At this point Olesen isn’t committing to any specific dates for Westerner Days, which typically takes place mid-July.

“I would say (in) 10 days to two weeks we’ll come out with a more firm marketing plan for everyone once we understand more how these next phases roll out,” he hinted.

“There’s quite a lot of logistical planning that goes into the Canadian fair system. So now as this is rolling out, it’s really going to depend on how things adjust for the Stampede through to us and then obviously through to K-Days and then across Canada from there.”

As long as most COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted by the time Westerner Days is ready to begin, Olesen anticipates an event that will feel a lot like previous years.

“Our commitment is that the core of what is true to what Westerner Days is, we will absolutely maintain and be steadfast in what that value is for our customers and for the spectators that come,” he remarks.

“We’ll do everything that we reasonably can with the resources we have and be done in a fairly calculated way. It’s awesome, it’s exciting, but now is the time to really think through how this looks, versus just reacting and going completely unhinged, so we’ll move forward in a real balanced way.”