Lethbridge residents enjoying the midway at Whoop-Up Days 2022. (Photo: LNN)

By Drew Stremick

Whoop-Up Days organizers excited for continued growth

Aug 31, 2022 | 3:09 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Whoop-Up Days has come and gone, and despite the rain that hit Lethbridge on Thursday and Saturday, organizers are happy with how everything went.

Mike Warkentin is the CEO of Lethbridge & District Exhibition (LDE). He says although the turnout wasn’t as high as it was in previous years, the organization was thrilled with this year’s event, which ran last week from August 23 to 27, 2022.

“A lot [of the excitement] had to do with the programming elements that were part of the fair this year, and with the addition of the Pow Wow and the rodeo as well as the art programming, La Galleria,” said Warkentin. “Those elements drove different audiences to the fair than we’ve seen in the past. And so the feedback we have received has been very positive.”

READ MORE: Rain rain go away: Lethbridge kicks off Whoop-Up Days

According to Warkentin, over 23,000 people attended Whoop-Up Days this year, down slightly from 29,000, which he says is the five-year average.

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Warkentin mentioned that the Siksikaitsitapi Pow Wow and Princess Pageant was a major success, and the LDE looks forward to continuing to expand on the event in the future.

“We kind of had a rough target of 100 participants, as well as four or five drum groups,” explained Warkentin. “We ended up with over 160 participants in the Pow Wow, two of which were cast in the “Prey” movie that was filmed here in Southern Alberta. Two of the drum groups are Grammy-nominated drum groups, and so we had a tremendous turnout from the Blackfoot community, and we look to continue to grow that element of programming in the future.”

The professional rodeo was another event that made its return this year. Warkentin says even with the rain last week, the LDE met its target for the number of attendees and indicated his team already has a plan to make the rodeo more exciting in 2023.

“We knew that this year would be a reintroduction rodeo, and so it didn’t sell out this year,” Warkentin said. “We’ve got some tricks up our sleeves on how to sell out those grandstands next year, so stay tuned. We met what we wanted to meet on the rodeo this year in terms of people, and the people who came here wanted to have fun and we had a dedicated rodeo crowd.”

READ MORE: Thunderstorm stops rides and rodeo at Whoop-Up Days

Lethbridge &District Exhibition CEO Mike Warkentin talks about the successes of Whoop-Up Days 2022, August 31, 2022. (Photo: LNN)

The LDE is still determining what the economic impact looks like for the City of Lethbridge, but Warkentin noted that plenty of people outside of Lethbridge came to the city for the 2022 edition of Whoop-Up Days.

Starting on Wednesday, August 31, and running until September 7, 2022 the LDE is conducting an online survey to see what residents would like to see at Whoop-Up Days in the future.

Read more Lethbridge News Now.