A small profit and big plans for next year marked Canadian Western Agribition’s annual meeting last week.
The show announced profit of $18,080 on revenues of just more than $3 million, for the year ending Jan. 31, 2009.
Chief executive officer Jason Pollock agreed the number is small by some standards but noted it’s much better than last year’s loss.
“We’re pretty pleased for the turnaround, especially considering economic conditions,” he said in an interview.
Attendance played a big role in that change, rising 5,000 from the previous year to 142,500, as did the weather, which Pollock described as phenomenal.
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He suggested that when times are tough people like to get together and that bred optimism across the grounds.
Sales and shows were strong. Show revenue, including admission, tickets, program sales and food sales, increased 14 percent to $1,028,785 and offset rising expenses such as labour.
A new event, the Ranch Rodeo, designed to bring visitors to the beginning of the show, is behind changes to the opening weekend for 2009.
Although Agribition has generally called itself a six-day show, it has always operated through eight days to accommodate all its events.
The draft horse events began on Saturday but the show didn’t officially open until Monday.
Pollock said the show includes 153 events and more than 400 hours of programming but needs to continue to attract a new audience. Rather than adding more days, organizers looked at how to use the opening weekend better.
This fall, the show will open on Saturday. It will feature two showcases, one for acreage owners and the other called Cowboy Arts and Western Heritage.
The first will offer workshops and one-stop shopping for the burgeoning number of acreage owners, including displays of animals suitable for smaller acreages for production or as pets.
The second will complement the Ranch Rodeo, which grows from six to 12 teams and will run Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings. It will include silversmithing, homemade tack and traditional western art.
A third piece to the opening weekend will be the return of the Select Carriage Auction, an event that was discontinued several years ago.
Pollock said this should make a more balanced schedule for visitors.
Agribition’s spring event, the Spring Ag Show, posted a small profit also. When Agribition took over management of the Regina Spring Steer and Heifer Show, it was a three-year deal.
Although happy with the first two years of the youth-focused events, Pollock said analysis would show whether a third year is feasible.
He said organizers would have to develop it into a full weekend that would attract an urban audience because it doesn’t have a strong rural audience. A pilot project this year involving a small group of Kindergarten and Grade 1 students worked well.
Also last week the Agribition board elected a new president. Marilyn Charlton of Weyburn, the general manager of the Saskatchewan Hereford Association, takes over from Shannon McArton who completed her two-year term.
The first vice-president is Bryan Hadland of Weldon, Sask. and Reed Andrew of Regina is the second vice-president. Members at large are Dr. Grant Royan and Stewart Stone, both of Regina.
