Alberta ag societies aiming to ‘get the summer off the ground’

The past two years have been challenging for everyone, including Alberta’s agricultural societies. But many are now gearing up for an active summer.

“They’re very hopeful that summer will be open and without restrictions,” said Tim Carson, CEO of the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies.

“The mood is quite positive. For the most part, everybody is eager to get the summer off the ground.”

A lot of events were held last year, and the response demonstrated how needed they were, he said.

“There was not a lot of lead-up time, but they were extremely well attended,” he said. “The communities seemed to recognize the fact that there was somebody putting something on in their backyard, and they needed to get out there and take advantage of that.

“I think one of the roles for our ag societies is to create that safe space that people feel comfortable in, and we’ll start building that consumer confidence back to bigger events and continue down the road that we have been on for the last 100 years or so.”

And some are aiming to come back stronger.

One is the Millarville Racing and Agricultural Society, one of three ag socie­ties recognized with the inaugural Alberta Agricultural Society Innovation award created by the province last year.

The society made a host of changes over the past two years, and some have proven to be keepers. For example, it created an online ticketing system for its annual Christmas market with timed entry tickets. The goal was to limit the number of people on site at any given time, but it turned out that it produced a better experience both for attendees and vendors, said society president Anna De Paoli.

“It was massively successful for customers because they had a less busy vendor experience, and successful for vendors because people could browse more,” she said. “That innovation is something we’re keeping even if we have no COVID-19 restrictions.”

Another of the society’s signature events is a farmers’ market, which runs every Saturday from June to October. Keeping it going meant constantly staying abreast of public health measures and adapting as they went.

“The rules changed frequently around masking, sampling and vendors,” said De Paoli, noting they had to have fewer vendors with more space between them.

The society partners with the nearby community of Priddis to put on the Priddis & Millarville Fair (last year was the 114th). Instead of abandoning the bench shows and fair entirely in 2020, the group held an online fair, where participants could upload photos of their handicrafts so they could be seen online.

“Last year, we had a hybrid fair where we had some online classes and some in person,” said De Paoli. “We took it from two days to one, and this year, we’re really hoping to build it back to the full fair, which is a two-day experience in person.”

Two other big events — a half-marathon in June and horse races on Canada Day — were cancelled for the past two years, but society officials hope to go ahead with them this year as well as chuckwagon races, chariot races and bull riding in September.

“We are hoping to have all of those events this year,” said De Paoli.

The pandemic also had a financial impact, hitting revenues and adding new costs. So the society turned to online fund­raising — not just to raise money but to get people involved and boost community spirit. One was dubbed the Millarville Experience Auction and was billed as “the cure to your COVID-induced cabin fever.” It offered items such as a hot air balloon ride, a tour through a greenhouse and a glider flight.

“We did a flower auction, we did a silent auction, we did online 50/50s so we created a culture of continuous fund­raising,” she said. “That was another innovation that we did that we got an award for.”

This year, the Millarville Racing and Agricultural Society is raising funds for an agriculturally themed playground. It’s applied for a grant, but is also hoping to raise $50,000 on its own.

“We were very successful financially during COVID-19,” said De Paoli. “We reduced our operating costs, and we reduced our staffing levels. We had a lot of volunteers step forward to take on roles that we previously paid for. We reduced our operational costs by over 40 per cent.

“We got ourselves on very good financial footing. We’re on a solid base and have paid down most of our debt.”

The group is excited for the coming year, but still cautious, she noted.

“We do have outdoor events, but we’re also cognizant that people may not want to be with crowds of thousands of people.”

While some want to get back to the way things were prior to COVID-19, others will not feel comfortable, she said.

“With the markets, we know that we can make them work,” she said. “With the other events, we’re planning multiple scenarios.”

For example, the Millarville Races traditionally attracted about 5,000 people, so the society is considering not just a timed entry and social distancing measures but whether the number of attendees should be reduced.

“It’s an uncertain time for event planners,” said De Paoli. “Even if you don’t have restrictions, what will your visitor want?”

That’s another challenge but after two years of dealing with such issues, members of the society know they are up to the task.

“Necessity drives innovation,” said De Paoli. “We really saw that, and we came together as committees and as a board. We did a lot of different things. We put a lot of energy into financial stability and innovation.

“We’re very glad what we’ve done with a small team of volunteers and staff. We’ve had tremendous results. We’re very excited about the coming year.”

They now look at the many events and activities put on by the society with a viewpoint of “how do we want to run” them, she added.

“What we learned is that we don’t have to go back to what we used to do.”