Weather fails to dent Farm Progress Show attendance

Despite everything Mother Nature could throw at it, attendance at this year’s edition of the Canada’s Farm Progress Show looks to be “fantastic,” show manager Rob O’Connor told Friday’s closing news briefing.

O’Connor said the show drew 812 exhibitors, while its business centre has 677 registrations from foreign visitors by Friday morning, well within reach of the 800 that organizers of the threeday show (which ended Friday) were seeking.

“Hopefully, by the end of the day, we’ll reach that,” he said, adding that attendance on Thursday — traditionally the show’s “big day” — was over 21,000 when a computer uplink at one of the gates failed around 2 p.m.

His best guess of the first two days’ attendance

“I’M PRETTY CONFIDENT WE’LL HIT THAT 45,000 TARGET.”

ROB O’CONNOR

is about 31,000 or 32,000 people, allowing him to say, “I’m pretty confident we’ll hit that 45,000 target.”

This strong show came despite a threatening cloud that forced organizers to close the outdoor portion early on Wednesday and Thursday’s heavy rain, which tied up traffic around the show site at Evraz Place, just as people were starting to arrive at nearby Mosaic Stadium for Thursday night’s football game.

Rene Carpentier, this year’s show chair, said it said it’s his impression the CFPS audience has swelled beyond those living within a day’s drive in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to include farmers and business people from Alberta and the northern U.S.

Wherever they come from, they filled up just about every available hotel room in Regina and Moose Jaw, with some sent to Caronport, home of the Briercrest Bible College, and even to the University of Regina’s residences, he added.