The 50th edition of the Canadian Western Agribition is scheduled to take place November 30th- December 5th, 2020, at Evraz Place, and organizers of the event are planning for business as usual, despite concerns over COVID-19.
Agribition CEO Chris Lane says it’s important to keep planning until otherwise told not to.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty out there in a lot of sectors right now,” said Lane. “Obviously, a lot of events are cancelling or postponing or questioning their future, and we’ve had those discussions at Agribition too. What is important for us is to continue planning the show as we intend it to be in that situation, rather than stop planning based on a situation that we really don’t know about.”
Lane says Agribition has the benefit of being later on the calendar, adding that they don’t have to decide a “drop dead” date to reschedule the event yet.
Agribition planners are encouraged by the province’s decision to start reopening and are hoping that the trend continues so that they can deliver such a big event.
“Agribition is such a massive marketplace for the commerce of agriculture, it’s not just a public event or just an entertainment event,” said Lane. “We feel that we’ve got a real obligation to exhibitors and producers, to make sure that if it’s at all possible for Agribition to be held as normal, that we’re ready to do it.”
If Agribition does go ahead this year, Lane says there are some exciting things being planned for the event’s 50h anniversary.
“On the livestock side, having all the national breed shows come to Agribition, that’s never happened before, so from a purebred livestock side of business, that’s unprecedented,” said Lane. “From the public entertainment and engagement side of things, we have a couple of fun events and activations planned that I think, will get people pretty excited to come through the door.”
Lane added, if things keep going the way we all hope they will, he looks forward to celebrating Agribition just like any other normal year.
