AGM reveals some Swift Current Ag & Ex-cellence for 2023
The Swift Current Agricultural and Exhibition Association (Ag & Ex) had a good year in 2023 with many highlights from events hosted by the non-profit organization and a return to a positive financial situation. Info about the past year’s activities and financial outcomes were provided during the Ag & Ex annual meeting at Kinetic Exhibition Park, Feb. 28.
“Overall, we were very pleased,” Finance Chair Stan Aikens said. “Our numbers were in line with PRE-COVID. So we were seeing people attending our events.”
Weather conditions can have an impact on the success of their events, but it was not a real factor during 2023.
“We had ideal weather for pretty well all our events and that’s a big plus factor for us,” he said. “We need that. If we have poor weather, the result is the profitability is definitely down.”
Revenue of $824,054 from activities and events made a significant contribution to the organization’s total revenue of $921,094 in 2023. The total expenses during the past year were $862,179 and as a result the Ag & Ex had a profit of $59,915.
“We continue to strive to keep our costs as low as possible,” he said. “However, with increased costs for services and supplies, we had no alternative but to raise some fees in 2023, most notably our gate prices from $5 to $7. These increases allowed us to continue to provide quality events and educational activities for Swift Current and surrounding areas.”
The Step into Spring trade show and the commercial exhibits during Frontier Days had increased revenue in 2023 compared to the previous year, but both still experienced a challenge to get vendors to return. He noted that vendors have changed the way they do business during the pandemic and some are still experiencing difficulties to get staff.
The Ag & Ex will continue with efforts to attract previous and new vendors. Aiken will be attending trade shows in other cities to engage them.
The Ag & Ex hosted a new event in 2023
that was a great success. The Taking it to the Dirt bull riding event and cabaret took place in conjunction with the Bumper to Bumper Taking it to the Streets concert on Aug. 19. The bull riding event was attended by just over 1,100 people and there was a good crowd after the concert at the cabaret. The partnership with the Taking it to the Streets concert added to the success of the new bull riding event, which realized a profit of $13,990. Ag & Ex will not proceed with the bull riding event in 2024, because the concert organizers decided last year’s Taking it to the Streets was their final one after five years.
“It’s not something that we’ve totally ruled out,” he said about the bull riding. “The people that are involved with that would still like to see that event go on and we’ve talked about expanding it to a couple days. So it’s still in the negotiation stage and I don’t think it’ll likely happen this year.”
The presentation of several committee reports during the Ag & Ex annual meeting provided details about different activities and highlights during 2023.
The 11th annual Discover the Farm Program: A Farm Facts Experience was attended by 739 students and 65 teachers from different schools in southwest Saskatchewan. Students learned about agriculture and safety through hands-on presentations with farm animals.
The Step into Spring Trade show was attended by just over 1,500 people over two days. This was lower than expected and it was likely due to poor weather. A new feature of the show was the Sip and Shop evening and different types of workshops. There was positive feedback from vendors and visitors to the Sip and Shop, which attracted about 500 shoppers on the Friday evening. The workshops were also well attended.
Frontier Days attracted over 24,000 people from June 28 to July 1. The Frontier Days parade through the city streets on July 1 had 76 entries. The rodeo was well attended on all three days and the Frontier Days rodeo committee won the 2023 Canadian Cowboys Association Ground of the Year award.
Doc’s Town Heritage Village had a successful season in 2023. It received several grants to assist with operations. Over 200 students from five different schools visited the village on field trips and there were also successful summer day camps for children aged 6-11 during July and August. A full schedule of weekend programming took place during the summer, including cowboy poetry, antique tractor and classic car display, blacksmith hammer-in, country dance and country music jam session.
Great weather helped to make Ranchman’s Ridin’ & Recitin’ and Junior Stockman’s
a success on Sept. 23. There were six teams for the heavy horse competition and good support for Junior Stockman’s with 54 entries from all three prairie provinces. The pen show attracted 43 pens of cattle in five different classes, there where 72 entries for the all-breed female show and the new bull calf jackpot competition had 14 bull calves entered.
Aikens presented the 2024 Ag & Ex budget during the meeting. The expected income of $828,486 and total expenses of $865,450 will resulted in a projected loss of $36,964. This reflects ongoing uncertainties about cost and inflationary pressures as well as potential income from event attendance and gate admissions.
“We generally have tried with our budget to be very conservative with most things,” he said. “There’s lots of areas that the people don’t spend the money that they’re budgeted, which we’re very thankful that we have those type of people that are very conscientious about that in various committees.”
Aikens expressed appreciation towards the Swift Current region for its ongoing support through attendance of events, volunteering and sponsorship.
“2024 will again be very challenging,” he said. “However, we remain optimistic that people want to gather and enjoy entertainment, shows and educational events delivered by this organization.”