The Western Canadian Crop Production Show gets underway today at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.
Prairieland's Agriculture Manager Lori Cates says there's a lot of excitement with the show's return after having to miss last year due to COVID.
"Our exhibitors are so happy to be back. I mean, I get stopped all the time on the show floor saying, you know, thank you for having the show. Thank you for having a show, we need to get back, we need to get in front of our customers. And so we're really happy that we're able to do that. "
She says they've taken every precaution that the government has outlined.
"You know, anyone that's entering the building has to have a negative COVID test that's been administered by an approved testing provider, or proof of the vaccine. So, everyone has to wear masks and use the hand sanitizers."
She says we're just really happy that we're able to support the agriculture industry by once again hosting this show that has become sort of the kickoff to the growing season.
When it comes to exhibitors, a week and a half ago they were completely full, but over the last few days they've had some people cancel, Cates says for some that has basically been a corporate decision, that maybe has come down from head office.
"We do have some cancellations, but for the most part, I still have over 300 exhibitors and right around 1000 indoor booths. All the typical stuff that everyone would normally see here at Prairieland Park for the Crop Production show. Because of the last couple of years and the circumstances, there have been a number of companies that have either gone out of business or just decided they're not doing trade shows anymore. I know a couple companies personally that they've just retired. So we've been able to get a lot of new exhibitors in. Exhibitors that have been waiting for six, seven or eight years to get into our show. And now we've had some holes, and we've been able to get the new exhibitors in. So I'm pretty excited because there's a lot of new stuff for people to see."
She notes a lot of the new exhibits are located in Halls "D" and "E" where the bigger equipment is.
Show hours for the Western Canadian Crop Production Show are 12 pm to 6 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 9 am to 5pm, and Thursday 9am to 4 pm.
Admission for the show is $18 at the door, with a two-day pass $32 with tickets now also available for purchase online at https://www.showpass.com/wccp2021/.
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