NORTH BATTLEFORD - The Battlefords Ag Society is reporting a great response by the community to their parade and midway events held last week.
The Ag Society held the scaled-down events last week, with the parade held in the streets of North Battleford on Aug. 16 while the midway from Wild Rose Shows ran on Aug. 19-21.
The events were in place of the annual Northwest Territorial Days which have been derailed due to pandemic restrictions the past two years. But this year seemed like a return to normal as midway rides returned to the Ag Society grounds for the first time since 2019.
There were no official attendance numbers to report, however Ag Society manager Jocelyn Ritchie noted all the events that were held were well-attended, including the horse show on the final day Aug. 21. “Our horse show was phenomenal,” said Ritchie.
There was also a good response from sponsors. There were three food booths set up during the midway event: the Ruthenian booth, the Battlefords Rotary Club’s Spudnut booth, and the combined booth run by the Ag Society-the Blend.
Ritchie noted the food booths were extremely popular with the public, with the Ruthenians selling out their food on their first day.
All in all, Ritchie was pleased with how things transpired.
“I’m very very happy. Our community came out, our sponsors came out and it was a great show,” said Ritchie. “Everyone was ready for something and to have a little bit of fun.”
Ritchie is hoping that next year the Ag Society can return to having a full Northwest Territorial Days event next year with the return of chuckwagons and different events. This year’s event was more geared towards the kids and teenagers, she said.
The next big event on the Ag Society schedule will be the demolition derby, which will happen as a standalone event on Sept. 11.
