Lakewood, Ag Society partner with GlobalFest for series of fireworks displays
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Lakewood of Strathmore has announced their fireworks calendar for 2023, now in partnership with the Strathmore Stampede, and GlobalFest YYC.
Scott Silva, who spoke on behalf of Lakewood of Strathmore, said the partnership has been in the works for a while, and the team is excited to expand the number of shows taking place throughout the year.
“This originally started with the relationship between GlobalFest and Heckya partnering up for some of the smaller events outside of the Calgary direct area, so everything in Strathmore and Wheatland County,” he said. “Part of this when we started the relationship back in 2020 was to grow what we have now coined as the ‘Roadshow Series.’”
Silva explained though the relationship between organizations stemmed from Heckya and GlobalFest, beginning to work with the Strathmore Stampede and Agricultural Society has fleshed out the arrangement into a long-term working agreement.
This, he added, is the first year of a multi-year campaign which will feature five or six shows annually.
“Back in 2020, we were the only pyro musical, and the largest Canadian pyro musical in Western Canada. That was when we did our big GlobalFest Fire on the Lake show in Lakewood, and that really spawned everything,” he said. “Of course, the world had a little bit of a break the last couple years, so we were not able to do as much, but now with 2023 and everything coming back into full swing, we are really able to expand on this idea.”
The five currently scheduled fireworks events hosted by the three organizations include the Cowboy Town Concert, Strathmore Stampede, Stampede Fright Night, Light up the Night, and New Year’s Eve celebrations, all taking place at the Agricultural Society grounds.
Silva added some goals through the partnership are to attract the attention of businesses in Calgary, as well as to bring people in from outside the local region to bolster local commerce.
“Especially working with our partners at GlobalFest, we really want to attract a lot of the Calgary market and bring them out to Strathmore and share our amazing communities, our amazing people and all our amazing amenities out here,” he said. “We would love to be able to see a large effect and a great effect for a lot of the local businesses on an economic side of things, and we are hoping that this additional tourism is going to bring those people out so they are not only spending their money here, but they are spending the night … it is a great piece for economic development.”
Lakewood of Strathmore’s events calendar is accessible online for those who are interested to learn more, as well as to purchase tickets.