The Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede has announced it is planning to build a $20-million event centre and grandstand. Fundraising will begin immediately.--ARTIST RENDERING SUPPLIED
lthomson@medicinehatnews.com
A new event centre was recently approved and announced by the board of directors and shareholders of the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede.
The announcement, which includes a digital rendering of the new project, states the proposed facility will include 5,000 stadium seats located between the north and south grandstand, a 9,000 square-foot banquet room, seven breakout rooms, a large commercial kitchen, a hub area with four retail spaces and four food concession spaces, and a VIP deck overlooking the infield.
The north grandstand will be completely replaced, while the south will undergo major renovations. The two will be combined and connected to the existing Higdon Hall building.
“The time is right,” Ron Edward, chair of the Event Centre and Grandstand Committee, said in a press release. “Replacing a structure that has served its purpose for over a half a century with a new year-round facility that is lacking in our community and will be widely used, well into the future.”
The release says “the new Event Centre and Grandstand will fill a gap in the community’s needs by providing a large banquet space and numerous breakouts rooms, something the community currently does not have.
“The banquet room will comfortably seat 350 people in traditional dinner seating and 450 people in theatre-style seating. This will create the ability to go after national and provincial conventions, and address the community need of a facility this size.”
Kara Brake, general manager for the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede, says this project is exciting not just for MHES, but for the community as a whole. She hopes the new event centre and grandstand will allow the city to host events in a greater capacity and go after events never before held in Medicine Hat.
“We’re definitely hoping that we might be able to attract more concerts; right now we’re doing about three a year plus Summer Jam, so hopefully we could do a bit more in regards to concerts,” said Brake. “Maybe that would look like a concert in June, a concert in August, and then also more family oriented events.
“We’ve already talked about doing outdoor movies or bringing in more things like we did with the motocross or monster trucks. So things like that, that are a little more attractive to that family crowd.”
Next steps for the committee will involve launching a fundraising plan to raise $20 million for the project. This includes meeting with various levels of government, applying for grants and other fundraising activities.
“We’ve just started conversations in that regard, but that will be our biggest priority over the next year,” said Brake. “Our ideal goal would be that we could have the majority of the money in place by the end of Stampede next year, and that as soon as Stampede is over, the shovel would hit the ground.”
More information regarding the event centre and grandstand can be found on the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede website at http://www.mhstampede.com.
