Exhibition financial report being presented to SPC this afternoon

By Lethbridge Herald on April 11, 2024.

Herald photo by Al Beeber A report will be presented today to the Economic and Finance SPC on the Lethbridge & District Exhibiton's finances.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

A report will be presented today to the Economic and Finance Standing Policy Committee of Lethbridge city council on the financial situation of the Lethbridge & District Exhibition.

Submitted by Manager of Corporate and Strategic Initiatives Graeme Woods and presented by LDE acting CEO Kim Gallucci, the report says 25 new events have been booked in the last two months and 120 are currently scheduled for the 2024 fiscal year. The Exhibition has a goal of 200, says the report.

Five of those events are self-promoted including Ag Expo, the farmers market, Whoop-Up Days, the rodeo, Glow and the Ag Innovation conference in November.

“Our focus is on the larger revenue streams that are conference and trade event streams. The conference targets are initially Alberta, Western Canadian, and Prairie based associations, corporations, and other related organizations. We are working diligently on future bookings in this area which primarily will be 2025-2028 years,” says the report.

“Simultaneously we are focused on the smaller short term events in 2024, while working on returning business for 2025-2026.

The report called the Ag Expo event “very successful financially and professionally, providing Lethbridge an nationally recognized event and pride in its delivery of services and reach of visitors to Lethbridge. It had a sold-out trade show utilizing most of the facility, patron visits were up from previous years, and we had a number of private rentals by organizations hosting during the Expo days that maximized the full use of the facility. 

“Our goal is to increase the growth of this signature event for 2025 and 2026, and are planning further activities into the future.”

A financial statement on events and operations revenue to be presented today includes all activities with aggregate revenue from the past four months up to Feb. 29. These include Christmas banquets, Glow, the provincial ag services board conference as well as Ag Expo.

It also includes the Food and Beverage Expo up to Feb. 24 but “food and beverage vendors financial settlements run slightly different time periods, so anything in the last week of February, which includes Ag Expo concessions and private rentals would not be captured in this statement and will be in the next month statement,” says the report.

The SPC, which consists of the mayor and all members of council, meets today at 12:30 p.m. in council chambers.