Public gets first look at new agri-hub and trade centre
By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on August 15, 2023.
Members of the public on Saturday for a first glimpse of the new Agri-Food Hub and Trade Centre during an open house.Joseph Saunders was an apprentice electrician who worked on the facility and had the opportunity to come back and see the finished centre.
“I started as an apprentice for electrical when I started this building last April,” said Saunders.
“And we got to see this building when there was just pre-cast walls and beams up. It was all a lot of dirt and we got to build the building along with the other trades, and just get to see how this building all came together. And it was just a really eye-opening thing to see and be a part of because this building is going to be a part of our community for a really, really long time.
“Getting to see all the stages and building it up, it’s just an awesome experience to have. We saw this is going to be a part of our community. So we can take our future generations here and literally say, like I was a part of this, I built this and just an awesome thing to have,” said Saunders.
Saunders expressed his pride about the facility and was happy to be at the grand opening.
Dave Goughnour took in the event with his family.
“We’ve been looking at the construction happening for a while and it’s been really exciting to see you know this huge building going up,” said Goughnour.
“So we wanted to come and see some of the facilities and it is absolutely gorgeous. Like it really is nice. There’s a beautiful patio up on the top, the actual grandstand area or the event area is just massive and it’ll be a great opportunity to bring some good events to Lethbridge.”
“We have our public open house today and the response has been overwhelming,” said Mike Warkentin, the Exhibition’s CEO.
“I don’t know what we expected but we have had thousands of people through this facility today. It has honestly been phenomenal and 99 per cent of them have been overwhelmed with how beautiful the space is. And that the amount of blood, sweat and tears that went into this place, it’s really, really great to hear that positive feedback from the community.”
Many visitors to the adjacent farmers market began making the short walk over to the hub after dropping off their purchases.
The facility is funded by the province through the Alberta Recovery Plan, the City of Lethbridge, which maintains ownership of the land and a 30-year secured loan against future operations.
The facility’s four trade halls have a combined 104,000 square feet of space. Each is 26,000 square feet and each is a fully acoustically insulated space.
There are 900 parking stalls available for visitors in the north and south lots of the property. For accessibility, the centre has a limited number of wheelchairs to take guests to their events and it also has universal and accessible washrooms with. Way-finding signs have braille lettering and higher colour contrasts to assist visually impaired visitors. There is accessible parking in the north lot. 2
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