104th BCNE Starts Next Week
Prince George, B.C. – Preparations are going well for this year’s 104th annual British Columbia Northern Exhibition (BCNE).
President Alex Huber says the rodeo will be back by popular demand along with something new – the Chainsaw Competition.
“We have eight competitors – two of the guys from the “Carver Kings” television show in Williams Lake are coming up,” he says. “There’s chainsaw carving and we’ve got some big prizes for them.”
Other highlights include a performance by country music star Rod Black, the Heavy Horse Pull, and of course all the rides (advance wrist bands can be purchased at all Save-On-Foods locations and the BCNE office for $30. That’s $10 less than during the fair).
He says families will also be pleased to know parking will be free for the second consecutive year.
“Absolutely. We’re not doing the pay parking anymore. It’s just a tough thing in this town to wrap your head around.”
Considering the affordable admittance rate – $10 for those 12 and up, Seniors (55 and up) $5 and children 11 and under free – he says they are hoping for a good turnout this year.
“We can’t get accurate numbers allowing kids 11 and under in for free but we’ve had numbers from previous years and you can tell by the feedback,” says Huber.
“I mean we’ve expanded the food court and there’s 50 percent more vendors and they’re making more money than they did before so obviously there’s more people buying food off of them. And alcohol sales are up – you can kind of gauge by that there was more people last year than previous years.”
He says the wildcard in all this is the weather.
“We’re like the farmers – we’re dependent on the weather. If it’s too hot people don’t want to be on the pavement when its 35 degrees and if it’s raining you can only hit the beer garden so long.”
The event runs August 18th to August 21st.
Comments
Too bad it gets in so late. Normally it was right after the BC long. I think this is too late, at least have it no later than the second weekend after the BC long.
The issue are the families participating in the 4H, the kids are not freed from the responsibility until after the auction. Thus the family gets tied up all summer, and can not go on vacation.
At 10 bucks for admission it’s still way overpriced. The food is terrible (and expensive!) and the Kin centers are full of people trying to sell me their crap.
I am going to take a wild guess! Does that mean you are not going this year?
I, for one, am still extremely upset with the name change. Screw the BCNE, to me it will always be the PGX (home of the silver stetson)!!! Stupid corporation taking what was ours for over 100 years and making it theirs because the the people in charge of the exhibition forgot to “incorporate” the PGX name.
Just kidding… I am happy with change, even the renaming of a local park. Yup, proud to NOT to be a local curmudgeon ;-) Now bring on the thumbs downs, because… well because I made fun of you local curmudgeons!
I agree with jgalt, in that the actual fact is this is the second (maybe third) year of the BCNE, and the 104th edition of this city’s summer carnival and exhibition.
I am amused that the parking story got 34 comments, yet the Olympics and and banners got barely any comment.
Is this what people are prioritizing?
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