By Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Exhibition Park announces lineup for 120th birthday year

Feb 23, 2017 | 1:08 PM

LETHBRIDGE – It’s almost as old as Lethbridge itself. And as Exhibition Park unveils its schedule of events for its 120th anniversary year, it continues work on its development plans.

The 2017 Schedule of Events, unveiled Thursday, Feb. 23, begins with Ag Expo and the North American Seed Fair (itself 120 years old) March 1-3. Setup was already under way in the exhibit buildings Thursday.

“We’re oversold again,” marketing manager Doug Kryzanowski said Thursday. “We’ve got a waiting list of probably 50 exhibitors, but we just don’t have enough space to put everybody.” He said it will once again necessitate a Machinery Row outdoors.

The issue leads back to the plans Exhibition Park has been working on for years to add space, including a convention facility for the city. CEO Rudy Friesen said the development plan has been in the works for approximately a decade.

“There’s some developments that I can’t talk about right now, but you’ll learn about as early as Monday,” Friesen said, “that will change the face of how we approach our development in the years to come.”

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The lineup also includes the Home and Garden Show March 22-25, Aggie Days April 25-26, the newly expanded Children’s Festival May 5-6, farmers markets held at Exhibition Park and downtown, Whoop-Up Days Aug. 22-26 along with the Bucking and Barrels event during the last three days, and the Christmas trade and farmers market Dec. 1 and 2.

Kryzanowski said Whoop-Up Days will see changes this year, but couldn’t go into detail yet. He pointed to the success of changes made to the rodeo last year, a success others are looking at closely. Last year also saw a change to New Year’s Eve festivities.

“Trooper, in 2016, went very well. So we’re re-looking at that. Our problem there is that we’re victims of our own success. We have to do better than Trooper now.”

Looking back at a history that dates back before the province of Alberta was created, Kryzanowski said agricultural societies and fairs were the gathering places through good times and bad.

Friesen said Exhibition Park is proud of how everything they do benefits the community, with something for everyone. He added they don’t have the most up to date economic impact numbers for Lethbridge yet. But the seven regional exhibitions (Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Olds, Camrose, Lloydminster, Red Deer, and Grande Prairie) had a combined impact of $332 million in 2016.