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Total attendance at the 2024 edition of the Saskatoon Exhibition was the second-lowest of the past decade for the annual fair, according to Prairieland Park.
The six-day event, which ran this year from Aug. 6 to 11, drew 204,991 attendees. That number has dipped in each of the last three years: attendance in 2023 was 207,046 while in 2022 the Ex drew a six-day record of 225,894.
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The total attendance record was set in 2021, when 230,528 people walked through the gates. Typically, the Ex takes place over six days, but that year eight days of programming were spread out over a 10-day period. Festivities ran for three days from Aug. 6 to 8, and then took a two-day break before resuming for five days from Aug. 11-15. In the two days off, Ex staff completed a thorough cleaning of the area including all touch points amidst a return to normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ex was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. That was the first year without the Ex in Saskatoon since 1885.
This year’s attendance was the lowest total since 2018, when 203,363 people took in the fair.
Prairieland said in a statement that “cooler temperatures earlier in the week contributed to smaller crowds” but warm weather on the weekend contributed to a massive turnout over the final two days this year. On Saturday, 50,075 people attended the fair; 38,187 were on the grounds on Sunday for closing day.
“While we reflect on the 139th annual show now completed, we are already looking ahead and anticipating a great turnout for the 140th annual fair coming in August 2025,” Prairieland director of signature events Funmi Oyatogun said.
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After a rise in 2023 in bear spray incidents, which organizers acknowledged and said they were determined to address, Oyatogun said organizers “improved on the security measures that were introduced last year” and had all patrons walk through scanners at the gates. Prairieland also introduced a no-bag lane to help traffic flow more quickly through security.
The fair wasn’t without incident, however.
Last Tuesday night, officers patrolling the fair grounds learned that a 16-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted by a man she hadn’t known before that day, Saskatoon police said in a news release.
On Wednesday, police identified, arrested and charged a 25-year-old man with the assault. Two days later, a 32-year-old man was identified and charged after an investigation by members of the sex crime unit, police said.
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A DECADE OF ATTENDANCE AT THE EX
2024 — 204,991
2023 — 207,046
2022 — 225,894
2021 — 230,528
2020 — Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2019 — 216,084
2018 — 203,363
2017 — 205,408
2016 — 209,983
2015 — Approx. 208,000
2014 — 219,281
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