REGINA – The Queen City Ex is now officially on with some new rides and a few new attractions and features to attract visitors this year.
QCX opened for business at noon on Wednesday and runs through Sunday. At the annual media availability to kick off the event, President and Chief Executive Officer of REAL District Rick Bennett summed up what they hope to offer.
“One is affordable, two is Canadian, and the third is unforgettable,” said Bennett.
The affordability is being offered by some new pricing features. Bennett noted that their new ticket offering starts at $21, a lower price than previous years.
“We know how challenging it is for families to afford all the variety of events throughout the City of Regina,” said Bennett, acknowledging some of the affordability challenges people are facing. “So we hope that appeals and makes it a little bit more accessible overall.”
The “Canadian” is being provided on the Original 16 midway stage, which is touting an all-Canadian lineup of acts this week. Bennett said the kickoff tonight is Blue Rodeo, with about a thousand people expect to attend in Confederation Park.
The “unforgettable” is being offered through various foods, events and midway rides.
Cat Betker, event manager for Queen City Ex, said there is “something stretched across the whole footprint for everyone. Indoors, outdoors, music, programming, entertainment, the thrills, the excitement, there’s definitely something for all ages and we’ve wanted to make it as accessible as possible.”
Outdoors in the parking lot next to the Midway is the Thrill Zone, where QCX is partnering with Kings Park Speedway this year.
“So they’re going to be doing some demo derby demonstrations, some kind of showcases, along with Sask Drift. They’re going to be doing some drift demonstrations and these these drift cars are so phenomenal,” said Betker.
“These are really, really high-end cars so it’s very cool. If you’ve never seen it before, you have to check it out. Betker also pointed to acts on the Original 16 Midway Beer Garden stage, including Sailesh the Hypnotist and local musical acts such as Wonderland and BILF. The fireworks close the show Aug. 3.
New midway provider
Perhaps the most unforgettable attraction promises to be the “Majorland” midway rides, being offered by a new provider this year in West Coast Amusements. West Coast Amusements has provided the midway rides at many other fairs and events in western Canada over the years including at venues such as the Pacific National Exhibition and the Calgary Stampede.
Rob Hauser, President of West Coast Amusements, said they have 40 rides this year slated for QCX.
“I’d say we have what we call spectacular rides, major rides, family rides, and kiddie rides. A super spectacular ride would be khaos, Speed, Vertigo, and then we have what we call major rides, which would be Himalaya, Alien Abduction, Bumper Cars, and then family rides, some of the walkthrough Fun Houses, Cuckoo House, Mardi Gras, Tornado, Zero Gravity…
“We’ve got 12 rides in Kiddie Land, and then we’re split probably three ways between the other three.”
Bennett said reason for the switch in midway providers was predominantly a scheduling conflict.
“As you can see, the Saskatoon Fair is underway at the exact same time. And we felt in order to get the type of rides that we wanted and the caliber of rides, that we were better served by West Coast Amusements.”
Bennett says this is a multi-year relationship, and West Coast Amusements has made significant capital contributions and commitments to future years.
“So, what you see today is only the starting point, and we’re going to grow from here to more adult-oriented rides as we look into 2026.”
Hauser looks forward to being involved for many years to come.
“So yeah, we’re just super-excited to be here. And this is a big opportunity for us. So we’re happy to grow into the role at the QCX and, you know, keep bringing good rides for Regina people.”
Police presence
To maintain safety on the REAL grounds the Regina Police Service will be on hand maintaining a presence throughout the QCX.
“We’ve had the opportunity to increase our presence this year,” said Ross Kauk, Sergeant in charge of the Downtown Safety Team. “We’ve increased the number of officers that we’re going to have on scene. We’re going to have people in uniform. We’re going to have people out of uniform. And we’ve had the good fortune of having our new alternative response officers in the mix this year as well.”
The police presence will include their uniformed members from patrol, members of the downtown safety team, alternative response officers and some plainclothes officers as well. The hope is that security measures at the gate and the increased visibility will deter criminal activity.
“So we know presence is a big deterrent of crime. And we know that a majority of our city is going to be at this event. We want to make sure that we keep them as safe as possible.”
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