Thursday, May 6, 2021
VOLUME 3 I ISSUE 45
MERIDIANSOURCE.CA
SEE PAGES 12 & 13 FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SECTION
LloydEx braces for rebound GEOFF LEE
WRITER
.................................. The Lloydminster Agriculture Exhibition Association has identified a new cash cow it hopes to milk for the next two to three years of postpandemic economic recovery. The money maker is the pent-up demand of consumers to spend money on the type of live events and entertainment LloydEx provides at the exhibition grounds. “Canadians have saved six times the savings they have in the past, of any year, since the 1930s. Canadian’s have money sitting there that they want to spend; there’s pentup demand,” said LloydEx assistant general manager Jackie Tomayer. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to go to a concert, so there’s pent-up demand.” That’s some of the optimistic sector research Tomayer shared in an economic recovery update to the Rotary Club of Lloydminster via Zoom on Monday. Tomayer is a member of a recovery task force with the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions looking at ways for the industry to survive and thrive. One of the solutions is seiz-
Face painting from the 2018 Lloyd Ex Fair. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source Photo ing the opportunity of pentup demand. “We’re looking at about two to three years of celebrations, so we’re on the cusp of a bit of a boom here where people are going to be spending a lot of money at live events and tourism-type things,” said Tomayer. She says they can look to the U.S. as an example, as their economy is opening a lot quicker than ours is. Tomayer cited the experience of an American fair provider who reported his lowest revenue fair is doing 158 per cent better than his fair did in that same region in 2019, as an example of what Canadians may spend.
“The fair industry hasn’t been idle. We’ve been preparing for when we can welcome people back and trying to figure out new funding models,” said Tomayer. “This past year has not been easy on us for sure, but this board and our staff are a resilient crew,” she said. She says LloydEx and the board have held countless meetings over Zoom and some in-person during the pandemic, trying to find out where they go from here to benefit Lloydminster. One of their innovative local funders is the building naming project that Tomayer says has gone over really well. “We have some major
announcements coming in the next few weeks that almost all of our buildings have been named,” she said. “So that is a great way the community has helped LloydEx. We’re looking forward to having those partnerships with those people for years to come.” LloydEx is currently hosting vaccination clinics to help end the pandemic. “We’re proud that we are able to help the community and region that way,” she said. Plans are also underway for another drive-thru fireworks for the LloydEx Fair patterned on what they did last year when staff members got ringside seats in the
grandstand. “It was an amazing experience. We were so close to the fair,” she said. “So this year, I kind of want to run a contest for maybe our first responders or our teachers and people will nominate those individuals in our community and we’ll let them and their families come in and have that exclusive experience.” This year’s fair promises to be a live event with the status of midway rides up in the air. Tomayer says the midway company is based in B.C. and is currently unable to leave due to COVID-19 restrictions. “I’m really hoping they can come. If they can’t, we will hold a separate fair,” she explained, focussing on their steer and horse shows. “We’ll have the food alley where we’ll have vendors come to sell their food and we’re hoping to do a home market alley as well so people can register and sell their home goods. “We’ll have a good four days in July.” Looking further ahead, Tomayer says LloydEx has already got lots of bookings for events and weddings. “We have lots on the go,” she said.