Expo Centre midway fills gap for families feeling the absence of K-days

A large stuffed animal hauled over a shoulder. Screams of excitement as a ride whips around a corner. Long lines to try the food that can be smelled from the parking lot.

These were some of the sights and sounds Saturday afternoon at the Edmonton Exhibition Lands, with the Summer Fun Midway in full swing.

The fair, hosted by North American Midway Entertainment, is operating outside the Edmonton Expo Centre from July 23 to Aug. 1 in place of K-days, which was cancelled last month due to the limited time to prepare. It's one of the city's largest events of the last 16 months, since K-days and large festivals were cancelled last summer due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

Scooter Korek, vice-president of client relations for the midway company, said he's thrilled to see Edmontonians back on the grounds and enjoying the rides and all the fair has to offer, including food, games and entertainment through the Super Dogs and a motorcycle show.

The pandemic has been hard on the organization, which is used to travelling and making people smile at its fairs, Korek said. It hosted only two last summer in the United States.

“We're travelling people who put on big fairs, so we were kind of fish out of water, and now we're back in water again doing the thing that we do,” he said. “So far, it's been great. Yesterday was beyond our expectations, so we're off to a good start and we're excited to be here for another nine days.”

Although Korek didn't have attendance numbers for the first day and a half, he said people have been coming in droves and the response from the public has been great.

One of those attendees on Saturday was Mitch Shewchuk and his four-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, who arrived at noon, when the fair opened, to beat the lines. Standing in line for a funhouse, Shewchuk said he was thrilled to see the smile on his daughter's face at being able to go on rides.

“I'm happy for this,” he said. “Kids get a mini-experience to see what K-days is like and they get to have fun on the rides, and it's fun for the parents to eat all the good food,” he said.

“It feels great just to be back around people and back to normal a little bit.”

Masks aren't required on-site but are available for free, and hand sanitizer is stationed around the park. To reduce touch points, attendees can buy tickets and pay for parking in advance online.

CASES CREEPING UP

As a backdrop to the fair, the pandemic is still being fought inside the Expo Centre. The site is being used as a mass vaccination clinic until July 29 and as a COVID-19 testing site.

Active cases in the province have crept back up to 799 after falling below 600 last week. On Friday, 173 new cases were reported, the most since June 10. The Edmonton Zone now has 155 active cases, with 25 people in hospital and 16 in intensive care.