The harsh economy certainly played a factor, but Executive Director for the Bonnyville & District Chamber of Commerce Tanya Oliver says it was another solid oil and gas show all things considered.
“It was a softer show compared to previous years, but we’re still happy with both our exhibitor turnout and visitor turnout” says Oliver. “We had a hundred and ten exhibitors and between the visitors and people working the show, we had about 1200 people for it. We’re pretty happy with that.”
“Our exhibitors were able to make some good quality contacts and at the end of the day that’s why we put the show on. Overall, I think it went really well.”
Although currently being held every two years, there has been some talk of making the show an annual event. Oliver says that’s still to be determined, but the status quo will likely remain.
“Discussions are happening. We talked about it with our exhibitors and they seemed mixed on the idea. We’re going to be sending out a survey for the exhibitors; we don’t want to put on a show every year if there’s no demand for it. We’re leaning towards keeping it at every other year but we’ll see what the survey says.”
The show also managed to raise 5900 dollars for STARS Ambulance through admissions at the door, making the show’s year to date total donations almost 39,000.