Air show cancelled
Financial performance contributes to decision
Saskatoon’s long-running but financially inconsistent Canada Remembers International Air Show has been cancelled this year, say organizers.
The event lost more than $166,000 last year, according to organizers at Credit Union Centre (CUC). It lost money in some past years while earning a profit in other years, but it did manage to raise more than $400,000 for local charities since the first show in 1995.
CUC cancelled the summertime event in 2010 and it returned one year later but in a different location. The air show had been held at the CUC and then the Saskatoon airport before moving to the Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in 2011. In recent years, bad weather led to low attendance numbers for an event that had been known to draw 30,000 spectators.
“Consistency was a challenge with weather and location, and those are likely contributing factors to how the event performed financially,” said CUC executive director Will Lofdahl.
“We don’t want to be in a position where the taxpayers are underwriting events at the Credit Union Centre.”
The organization wants to continue hosting quality entertainment events “but we have to do that in the context of fiscal management,” Lofdahl said.
Hosting an air show at a race track also likely cost CUC revenue this year due to the logistics required to plan a new event site.
“It’s difficult to fly planes into a race track,” Lofdahl said.
The recent firing of two CUC managers and an ongoing lawsuit did not factor into the decision to cancel the air show this year, Lofdahl said.
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Brian Swidrovich, the longtime organizer of the air show, was dismissed as director of business development alongside William Antonishyn, another senior manager, after a $7,000 five-person trip to Phoenix last fall.
Arena officials allege nothing relating to CUC or city business occurred on the trip. Swidrovich and Antonishyn have filed lawsuits claiming the trip was consistent with past practice and that it was intended to bolster relationships with clients from Saskatoon who accompanied them to look into sponsorship opportunities and to do fact-finding for a CFL franchise for Saskatoon.
“We put on 130 events a year and this is just one of those events,” Lofdahl said. “Putting on an air show is certainly something we could do with our staff if it was appropriate.”
Swidrovich said he doesn’t believe the lawsuit informed the decision to cancel the air show.
“I hope not,” he said in an interview Monday.
“The whole situation is disappointing. It’d be sad not to have it.”
The air show struggled in some years, but it was more important to honour veterans, who would often come from across the country to reunite with friends, Swidrovich said.
“It made money some years and lost money some years,” he said. “I know the veterans would like it to continue. Every single year of the air show is the last year for many veterans.”
As early as last fall, CUC had decided to hold the air show again, Swidrovich said. Some veterans have recently contacted him to see if he can revive the air show this year or hold another event.
“Anything is possible,” Swidrovich said.
Lofdahl said CUC will continue to host Canada’s largest indoor Remembrance Day ceremony and explore other opportunities to honour veterans.
“We will be looking for some sort of event we can bring in here that can pay tribute to the veterans,” he said.