The investors who helped secure the land that now hosts the annual Ag in Motion outdoor farm show have been given a gift that keeps on giving.
At a presentation on Tuesday, the first day of the show’s 2022 in-person edition, Glacier FarmMedia — which owns the event along with this website and other farm show and farm media brands — announced it has become the sole owner of the property now dubbed Discovery Farm Langham, after buying the original investors’ stakes.
Laurie Bradley, John Mathison and Chad Doerksen were the initial investors who arranged to secure two quarters of land near Langham, Sask., about 40 km northwest of Saskatoon, for the purpose of putting on an event for producers that could replicate the event’s eastern counterpart, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show at Woodstock, Ont. — except do it bigger and better.
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At a short ceremony Tuesday, the three were gifted with lifetime tickets to AiM.
The event, which began in 2015 and is now billed as Western Canada’s largest outdoor farm expo, is today spread out over 100 acres and this year runs July 19-21, hosting over 500 exhibitors.
“All we knew was that we had a captive audience, a million dollars’ worth of land, and we had to finance it somehow because they [Glacier FarmMedia] wanted to lease it,” Bradley said. “This is the most successful piece of dirt I ever bought.”
As a thanks to Glacier FarmMedia, Bradley offered another piece of land as an extension of his gratitude.
Carla Vipond, GFM’s executive vice-president for events and Discovery Farm and Mark Melville, the company’s president of business information, presented the three founders and “visionaries” of AiM and Discovery Farm with a plaque which is to be mounted on the property in their honour.
Rob O’Connor during an interview following the July 19 announcement. (Liam O’Connor photo)
This year’s AiM event is special for organizers including show director Rob O’Connor, who said he’s really pleased that the show is back up and running in person after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
AiM-related events moved mainly online during that hiatus, and O’Connor said he wasn’t sure if the show would be able to get back to where it started — but was happy it was ultimately able to do so.
“We didn’t know the effects of the pandemic, but the team buckled down, we worked with our exhibiting companies and sponsors, and we got it back to where it was,” O’Connor said.
— Liam O’Connor reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Saskatoon.
