Dirty. Dusty. Great.
Interior Provincial Exhibition general manager Heather King described herself as all three things on Labour Day Monday, Sept. 5, the day after the 121st IPE wrapped up. The event made a successful return after two years away due to COVID-19.
“Oh my gosh, people were excited,” said King. “We had smiling faces, great weather, happy vendors, fantastic music. The rodeos were almost sold out. It was awesome.”
The first four nights of the fair featured the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association tour stop while the last night ended with a professional bull riding event.
The return of the fair was greeted with large enthusiastic crowds, though King did not have official attendance numbers as of Monday.
“People were excited to be out,” she said. “It was a very community oriented fair, old-school, we went back to our roots which was our them. People were super-happy.
“Everyone was having a good time. The workers were having a good time. Security was laughing. It seemed like everyone wanted to be here which was a fantastic feeling.”
It doesn’t happen often that Mother Nature will grant the fair five precipitation-free days but she did this year, and threw in toasty temperatures to boot.
“Oh my gosh, the amount of water we went through,” said Kings. “We had mobile water stations and the guests were really appreciative of that, that they could fill up their own bottles.”
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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