Whoop-Up Days Wrap

The fun and excitement is all over, as Whoop-Up Days wraps up for another year.

Heavy rains and cold temperatures had a major impact on this year’s festival, leaving organizers to call this one of the worst weeks in the history of the event.

“The weather over the five days, or even six on setup, disappointed us. What was even more disappointing is that we never even saw the sun,” said Doug Kryzanowski, manager of Exhibition Park

Organizers tried their best to cope with the cool weather conditions, hoping for warmer temperatures. However, the sun never came out, bringing in significantly low attendance numbers.  “There was an expectation that the next day would always be better,” said Rudy Friesen, general manager.

“By Thursday we started to make adjustments in staffing numbers and how we were laying out the park, to easy some of the expense pressure on the park and adjust for the amount of crowds we were getting.”

Not everything was affected by the weather. The rodeo went off without a hitch. Organizers said it was one of the best rodeo’s they have had in years.

“In terms of the performances, I don’t know if you could beat the rodeo that we had. I mean despite the arena conditions, we had some top times in roping, top scores in saddle bronc. It was an incredible week.,” said Friesen.

Vendors on the midway weren’t disappointed either on the overall turnout of the festival. “They went on as is as the weather went and are very happy with the numbers despite the weather,” said Kryzanowski.

This year’s Whoop-Up Days may have had a few bumps in the road, but that doesn’t have organizers down. They said after this year’s experience, they are ready to take on 2015.