Festival survives smoky week
The 2018 Whoop-Up Days Family Festival, hosted by Exhibition Park, came to a finish following the last firework Saturday evening. The week-long event provided visitors with a wide range of activities and a variety of entertainment.
Exhibition Park made some changes to the festival this year with a new layout of the grounds, opening up more space and exposing the rides to outside views, as well as having new entertainment that was 95 per cent Canadian acts. Drawing in new and more diverse crowds to the festival grounds was a goal of Exhibition Park through offering $5 entry before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with an additional discount everyday for seniors and veterans.
“Having the $5 entry increased our numbers for that time period but it also gave people the opportunity to come to the fair that couldn’t ordinarily afford to come to the fair,” says Doug Kryzanowski, Exhibition Park Marketing Manager. “We had a huge diversity of people come in which we haven’t seen before and for me that is a plus. We had a nice increase and response from doing that and really it is just giving back to those people.”
Between the smoke covering the festival throughout the week and the rain Friday, the festival did see a hit in the number of people going out to the grounds, but the reduced admission price helped keep the festival going.
“We got skunked Friday night with the weather, that cost us quite a few people, but we made up for it Saturday, but we were running pretty hard Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” says Kryzanowski.
“Overall, I would call it a success to the point of everything went off without a hitch, permitting the weather that we had on Friday. If we wouldn’t have had that we probably would have had a blockbuster.”
Although the rain Friday dampened the festival spirit temporarily, Exhibition Park still says it was a successful year for Whoop-Up Days, and they have already began planning next year’s event.
“We already started planning last Tuesday, when the parade went on, just seeing how things played out physically while it was on. We are always making notes every day on how we can make it better and we try to carry those things forward to the next year,” says Kryzanowski.
“With that we will be reviewing this year and crunching the numbers to see if our changes were a valuable thing to do for next year, but making sure it is affordable for people and families.”
The ideas are pooling and adjustments are being made in the coming weeks on how the family friendly festival can be more inclusive, affordable, accommodating and entertaining for the 2019 Whoop-Up Days.