Dear Editor:
Congratulations once again to the Ponoka Stampede Association for a fine rodeo but on the other hand, I do have to address the following issues.
Since the Ponoka Ag Event Centre was built and became open to different events, I have driven by numerous times seeing lots of horses and horse trailers in the area but had no idea what was happening inside. It sure would be nice to have a sign like the Town of Ponoka sign at the junction of Highways 2A and 53 telling people what is going on inside, preferably before an upcoming event so people could make plans to attend the events being held. There should be a sign somewhere out in front of the building that mentions the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame is inside so maybe it wouldn’t have caused my next issue.
Over Stampede Week I had family from out of town come to the Stampede and they wanted to go to the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame but they told me they couldn’t find it. Other people stopped me and asked where it was. I said how could you miss it, it’s a huge new building. They responded they found the huge new building but thought by the signage on it that it was a trucking company. Upon further investigation, yes, indeed they were right: on three sides of the building, in big, bright teal writing was the name of a local trucking company, and on the front beside the really big, bright teal trucking sign was a little, not-so-brightly-coloured Ag Event Centre sign.
This trucking company may be a primary sponsor but if that is indeed the case, do the signs need to reflect that fact or should the name be changed to the Calnash Trucking Ag Event Centre?
Sandra Olafson
Editor’s Note: A schedule of events is posted at www.ponokaageventcentre.com/events.php and first of each month in the Ponoka News. For a story on the sale of the naming rights, please see the article ‘Calnash buys event centre name’ in this week’s paper.