The Lethbridge and District Exhibition (LDE) has been dissolved, and two new entities have been created in its place. Excite Lethbridge, a municipally controlled corporation, will focus on attracting, planning and executing events and trade shows, while the Lethbridge and District Agricultural Society (LDAS) will look after agricultural programming and education. “We see it as really developing new events, events that we can control, attracting events to Lethbridge that we haven’t been able to do before, and really building a long-term—five-year or 10-year—strategic plan so that we can really focus on what we need for Lethbridge,” said Kim Gallucci, Excite Lethbridge CEO. Both organizations will operate out of the Lethbridge Trade and Convention Centre, formerly known as the Agri-Food Hub and Trade Centre. “It’s about the opportunities that this presents,” said Lloyd Brierley, city manager. “Going back to the roots on the agricultural side, which is so crucial to Lethbridge and southern Alberta, and then the Excite side will look at trades, conventions. The growth of that opportunity that it presents is massive.” The LDAS was first founded in 1897. After moving away from the name, the City of Lethbridge has chosen to return part of the organization to an ag society to promote agriculture in the region. The LDAS will have a community-run board. With the change, the ag society is eligible to receive $550,000 annually from provincial grants and fundraising. The change in name is required to meet Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis regulations. “We have 292 ag societies across all of Alberta, supporting our communities, supporting their local economies. They really are the heartbeat of so many communities across our great province,” said RJ Sigurdson, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation. The city is the only shareholder of Excite Lethbridge and is responsible for governance. The operational change to split the LDE into two groups was approved in May by Lethbridge city council. In 2023, it was discovered that despite the project being completed, the LDE was experiencing significant financial challenges and was on the verge of having to shut down operations. The LDE approached the city and province for additional funding for construction but was declined. As a result, the LDE board was dissolved last December, and the city took over operation of the $70-million convention centre for at least the next two years. The City of Lethbridge is covering the $4.1-million annual operating cost using council contingencies and one-time funding. Council deferred a 1.4 per cent property tax increase to 2027. The approval to split the organization into two entities followed a third-party review done by Deloitte Canada. The review revealed significant issues across five key areas: strategy and planning, project execution, governance, use of funds and council communication by LDE throughout the project process. No jobs were lost as part of the transition.
