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The Queen City Exhibition (QCX) has announced a new long-term ride provider.
On Friday morning, it announced that it was partnering with West Coast Amusements for the foreseeable future.
West Coast will be providing about 41 rides, including several new ones and the return of the fan favourite Zipper, which was retired by the North American Midway Entertainment.
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Cathleen Betker, director of entertainment for the Queen City Exhibition, said it was presented with an opportunity to rethink how it ran the fair. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)
Entertainment director Cathleen Betker said QCX took post-event surveys into account to figure out how to retool it for 2025.
Betker said QCX is simplifying its pricing and making things more affordable.
“One of the big themes from that feedback was that people were struggling with prices. And so if we want to continue being a strong event in this community, we need to reach people where they are,” Betker said.
“It was literally months of analysis. What can we adjust? How can we adjust it? We need people to come, so we’re going to try and meet them where we can.”
QCX said general admission tickets in 2025 will be $16, family and friend passes (four passes) will cost $54 and a ride-all-day pass is priced at $55.
After QCX’s contract with North American Midway Entertainment ended, Betker said it reached out to West Coast Amusements in fall 2024, and the deal was finalized several months ago.
Betker said this year’s QCX will feature new rides and food.
She mentioned fruity pebble corndogs, ketchup crunch corndogs and a cotton candy creator that shapes the sweet treat to people’s liking.
“If you want to eat a cotton candy Pikachu, you can eat a cotton candy Pikachu. It’s just really good, fun stuff for families. There are lots of great things coming,” Betker said.
Robert Hauser, president and CEO of West Coast Amusements, said the opportunity came out of the blue, but the group is up to the challenge.
“For the last 25 years. We’ve worked with the Saskatoon Exhibition and North American Midway Entertainment and there were some changes in the route scheduling and Queen City Exhibition gave us a call,” Hauser said.
“We’re going to provide a very safe, clean midway and I’m excited to grow and even provide better midway rides in the future but I’m very confident on what we’re going to provide for rides this year.”
Jim Cuddy (third from right) says he loves touring with Blue Rodeo. (Blue Rodeo/Facebook)
All-Canadian music featured in 2025
The QCX will also feature an all-Canadian music lineup that includes Blue Rodeo, The Reklaws, The Glorious Sons, Sam Roberts Band, Bif Naked and Kim Mitchell.
“I think it’s really important, especially right now that we have a great sense of patriotism and our camaraderie and building our communities together more than dividing them,” Betker said.
“Having that Canadian background, not only with our ride providers, but with our entertainment, was a really important point for us to make sure that we’re supporting everything that is Canadian.”
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