Ag society takes home win with final series’ poster

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

The Strathmore and District Agricultural Society finished off their four-part annual poster series promoting the Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days with a bang, as this year’s poster won first place honours at the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies.
Not only did the 2018 Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days poster win in two categories – events of more than 5,000 attendees and an overall marketing win Delegates Choice – but it marked the fourth consecutive year Strathmore has received the two awards in the poster category.
It also signaled the end of the four-part annual series – the Strathmore Rodeo and Chuckwagon Advisory Committee is already developing the 2019 Strathmore Stampede poster to be unveiled as is done traditionally during the rodeo and wagon racing event on the August long weekend.
“It’s nice to know that others take an interest in what we’re doing, and I think it reflects well not only on the organization but it’s a good morale booster for the staff and all who were involved,” said Herb McLane, general manager of the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society. “It’s competitive. I think it calls for effort and I think it deserves the effort and I think we put the effort into it.”
The 2018 poster is the fourth in the series, which was photographed and produced by Bret Kenworthy. The poster portrays two young lovers with a heritage in rodeo. The other posters, which have won in previous years, focused on a cowboy, cowgirls, and last year three boys. The awards were announced on Feb. 10.
“The Strathmore & District Ag Society managed to get the Delegates Choice award for their poster, and it’s a real feather in their hat to say that the folks who are definitely involved in the industry recognize the good work that’s going on there,” said Tim Carson, CEO of the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies.
“We continue to encourage our ag societies to be innovative and creative in what they’re doing in their communities and this is just a piece of the puzzle that helps them recognize their value.”
The series had an overall budget of roughly $4,000, which is an amount that’s expected for the project in the future. While the committee is still in discussions, McLane said the project for 2019, which will likely also be a series, is expected to differ substantially from the previous works. He added that there would be a greater focus on the rodeo and chuckwagons, and a greater sense of energy and action.
While the society is taking a different direction with the marketing for the future, McLane said he’s already impressed with the ideas coming forward.
“We’ll keep the pressure on,” McLane said. “I like where we’re going with what we’re beginning to lay out and so we’ll see how strong we are with this one coming forward. The important thing is that we use quality ingredients to get a quality result.”
The Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days runs Aug. 3-6 at the Strathmore and District Heritage Days Park and Rodeo Grounds.