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The Saskatoon leg of the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo has a new owner.
Former owners Mike Fisher and Chris Bernhard sold the event to Prairieland Park, but will continue to work alongside the new owner as organizers.
“You know, honestly, I am excited. There is going to be a lot of work this year in terms of the details that we need to help them understand, but they’ve run events for decades obviously,” said Fisher.
“They were very adamant that we were involved in terms of transitioning at least, so it’s not sort of a soulless sale. They very much want the vision and the voice to stay the same.”
According to Fisher, having Prairieland take over the event means more attractions can be added to the event that wouldn’t have been possible before.
One change that will be in effect this year is the expansion to include a Friday night component.
“That’s something we couldn’t do because of the rental costs so there is all kinds of stuff. They brought new ideas to the table, stuff that we never thought of. It’s nice to have a fresh set of eyes on it and they are very focused on making it as good as possible, which is very exciting for us,” said Fisher.
“It’s kind of the best of both worlds. It’s got the original vision and the heart of it. It’s been a labour of love for us for eight years but now it’s got some of their backing behind it, so in my mind it’s just a win-win across the board.”
In a news release, Prairieland Park said this year’s event will be held at the usual date, plus the extra day, from Sept. 11-13. However, in 2021, the event will change names to the Saskatoon Entertainment Expo and will be held in April.
As for Fisher, he said he will continue working with the Expo as long as it wants him to be involved, but his main focus will be on growing the Regina Expo.
“Our goal in Regina is to make it as big as Saskatoon has been and to bring the level of quality that we have reached in Saskatoon over the years,” he said about the event he has seen grow from 2,000 people in 2013 to more than 15,000 in 2019.
“We had to grow and the same thing needs to happen in Regina, so we are going to focus on that. And you know down the road if it makes sense for someone to buy it or it’s time for us to move on — but at this point there is no plans for that — we are just going to invest our time into making it as good as we can right now.”
