(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By rdnewsNOW staff

BREAKING

Westerner Days cancelled after midway provider falls through

Jun 28, 2021 | 1:39 PM

After earlier announcing that a modified edition of the event would take place next month, officials have announced that Westerner Days Fair & Exposition has been cancelled for 2021.

The decision to cancel was announced Monday after Westerner Park was notified just last week (Wednesday, June 23) that its midway provider, North American Midway Entertainment, was unable to follow through on its contract.

Prior to that, an announcement was made June 18 that the annual Westerner Days parade was being cancelled for this year, but that a modified version of the fair would indeed be going ahead.

“We are heartbroken for our community,” says Westerner Park CEO Mike Olesen. “To be clear, this was a decision not made by Westerner Park but unfortunately a decision that was made for us.”

“We feel for our staff and volunteers, the families who were looking forward to starting their summer with us and the businesses and vendors that count on the boost in their revenue that the fair provides,” laments Olesen.

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The overall loss due to the cancellation of this year’s event is expected to be in the range of $7 million. Of that, approximately $5 million would have been spent by visitors, exhibitors and contractors in Red Deer and area.

The cancellation is a tough blow for Westerner Park at a time when the organization is still recovering from the difficult financial state it has been in for the past couple of years. The fair’s cancellation also means Westerner Park will likely need to access the operating grant that the City of Red Deer approved for this fiscal year on May 11.

Olesen acknowledges the midway as being a core element of Westerner Days.

“When we learned of the choice that North American Midway made, we explored every option to look at alternatives to see what we could do to salvage the fair but due to these circumstances that were out of our control, Westerner Days is unfortunately cancelled for 2021.”

Despite the bad news, Olesen reminds central Albertans that Westerner Park is open for business and will adapt moving forward.

“We continue to support our event organizers and we will create new and innovative ways to allow us all to gather and celebrate again very soon.”

In terms of future events, announcements and more information are anticipated in the coming days regarding the North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships and fireworks display.

In addition, planning for both CFR and Agri-Trade in November remains ongoing with the anticipation of holding limited capacity events, if not full capacity shows.

Elsewhere in Alberta, Edmonton-based K-Days has been cancelled for 2021, as has the Ponoka Stampede. The Calgary Stampede will be going ahead July 9-18.