Now that the doors have closed on the Canadian Finals Rodeo and Farm Fair International for another year, the organization that hosts the event is calling it a success, even though it wasn’t sold out.
Officials said in total, 182,968 people attended the Canadian Finals Rodeo and Farm Fair International this year.
Farm Fair saw a record attendance of 95,574 people, and the international delegation at the event increased 36 percent.
However, attendance at the rodeo was down about two percent, with 87,394 people attending.
Despite the slight drop in attendance, the host considers the event a success.
“The interest in the agri-business side of Farm Fair was certainly very positive,” Northlands CEO Tim Reid said. “What we saw at CFR was growth every single night with the exception of Wednesday, and we think that was just a result of farmers staying in their field and making sure they could get their crops in.”
In October, officials announced the CFR and Farm Fair will still be held together at Northlands for at least another two years.
After those two years, there are no set plans for the two events – but Reid said there is a strong business case to keep them in Edmonton, and together.
With files from Nicole Weisberg
