The Saskatoon Ex wrapped up this past Sunday, nearly setting an attendance record with 225,895 people passing through the gates at Prairieland Park, although Prairieland officials say some unfortunate actions overshadowed the fair this year. During Saturday’s Trooper concert, a number of people were sprayed with bear mace at the grandstand. A couple of days prior, a group of teenagers were bear sprayed on Ruth Street near the exhibition grounds.

In a release, Prairieland Park says “Mace or Bear Spray incidents in the park were also up, even with our best efforts to stop it. This is a new challenge for the fair industry as a whole and in the future, we will be looking to technology to assist us.” Prairieland is already researching body scanners and metal detectors to be used at large-scale public events at the park.

The all-time attendance record for the Ex was last year in 2021 when the annual summertime event ran over an eight-day span with 230,528 people attending the fair. Next year, the Ex will run August 8th through the 13th.