Red Deer anticipates tourism boost after The Amazing Race Canada debut

The third largest city in Alberta was featured on The Amazing Race Canada. Red Deer officials hope to see a tourism boost. Sasha Pietramala reports.

Red Deer is hoping to see a tourism boost following the Season 11 premiere of The Amazing Race Canada, which featured the central Alberta city for the first time.

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Racers in the travel competition show started at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium before the first clue led them south to Red Deer. Teams had to guess the seconds it took to race down the Canyon Coaster at the Canyon Ski Resort and successfully complete a line dance at The Silver Buckle country bar.

“We’re pretty new in the industry, so it was a good way for us to get our name out,” The Silver Buckle owner Mark Linton told CTV News Edmonton last week.

“I’m certainly hoping it’s going to pick things up for us and bring even more of the community out because we try to do our best to do things for the community around here.”

Tourism Red Deer first began talks with show producers last December and began working closely with the production team in April during the show’s filming.

“It was pretty surreal watching the episode live on CTV, knowing that we were part of that and part of those conversations, and that we got to showcase our community,” Jesse Smith with Tourism Red Deer said on Monday.

Smith added there was a good turnout for the viewing party in Red Deer for the first episode, with a lot of Tourism Red Deer feeling proud of the work that they put into promoting the third largest city in the province.

“Proud to be from Red Deer and (the) region, and really excited about .. being put on the map in the Canadian context, which is what we’re trying to do,” he added.

“This is kind of like a feather in the cap that says we’re definitely on the right track.”

Smith said about 16-million people drive past Red Deer each year on Highway 2. They’re hoping to capitalize on that traffic after being featured on the show.

“Instead of people taking a quick drive from Edmonton to Calgary, we want them to book a weekend and come and check all the different things that exist in Red Deer.”

The last clue of the first episode sent racers to the final pit stop at Fort Normandeau, where they were greeted by Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston.

“For Red Deer to become part of that first episode, (it was a) tremendous sense of excitement (and) a lot of pride … that we could be on the big screen on such a great show,” Johnston said in an interview on Wednesday.

He added that patriotism is at an “all-time high” and hopes there will be a “wave effect” in added tourism following the airing of The Amazing Race Canada.

“Canadians have decided that you don’t need to go across the border to discover something new, unique, (and) historic,” Johnston said. “All those things in our country … will see an uptick in tourism and that will certainly apply to Alberta and … Red Deer.”

Contestants Michele Peter and Aditi Deonarine, cousins from the greater Toronto area, were the first team to be eliminated this season.

“It was crazy in Red Deer. I had to bust out the next hat,” Peter told CTV News Edmonton after last week’s episode aired, mentioning the difficulty of the line dancing challenge in Red Deer.

“Alberta was such a beautiful province and just driving around from hour to hour, from challenge to challenge, from Calgary and Edmonton and Red Deer, it was really serene and peaceful,” Deonarine added.

“It was really a wonderful experience for us. Definitely going to go back again and again.”

Three teams with ties to Alberta are racing this season, including Blair Gladue – better known as Superfan Magoo to local Oilers fans – and his wife Skylene.

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesday nights on CTV at 9 p.m. local time.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sasha Pietramala and Destiny Meilleur