At a free pancake breakfast in Regina’s Warehouse District, the Canadian Western Agribition (CWA) and Saskatchewan Roughriders announced a new partnership Saturday morning.
Admission to the first day of both this and next year’s Agribition will be free, courtesy of the Roughriders, along with player appearances, photo and autograph opportunities and contests.
“It’s such a natural partnership, you know we share the same footprint over at Evraz Place and we both put on events. So we started talking about a partnership and how we can work together to support Agribition,” said Saskatchewan Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds.
“And moving into 2020, with us hosting the Grey Cup we asked ‘how can we amplify that event as well?’ And we’re hosting back-to-back events in the province.”
CWA CEO Chris Lane echoed Reynolds’ sentiment about the partnership.
“The Saskatchewan Roughriders are an iconic Saskatchewan experience and we feel that Agribition is as well,” Lane said. “So we started talking about putting these two events together to really elevate the experience for Roughrider fans and Agribition fans.”
He also spoke on the significance of the event, which will be celebrating its 50th show next year, to the Canadian cattle industry. He says each year the CWA attracts more than 1,200 international attendees from over 80 countries.
Lane said the reach of the show was seen on a recent trade mission to Mexico he attended along with Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.
“They come here because they’re looking for the very best agricultural products. In a lot of cases that’s cattle genetics that can be imported to another country,” he said. “That’s where we see most of the trade happening with Mexico cattle breeders. They’re using top quality Saskatchewan genetics to increase the quality of their herds down there.”
Lane also said the Agribition, which is predicted to have a $56 million impact in Regina, will see a few new additions this year, including a freestyle motocross event and a new Agribition Express station at Hamilton Street and Sixth Avenue in the Warehouse District.
This year’s Agribition runs Nov. 25-30 at Evraz Place.
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