Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

By Scott Roblin

Event Bookings

Medicine Hat event venues seeing trickle of fall re-bookings

Jun 15, 2020 | 6:02 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – In the span of just a few days events like weddings, fundraisers and company outings were brought to a halt with the COVID-19 pandemic.

As restrictions from the province have been eased in the months following however, some local venues are optimistic they’ll be able to welcome small groups back to celebrate.

Historically, golf courses around Medicine Hat have been one of the busiest venues year-round for things like weddings. That usual summer traffic vanished almost immediately after the provincial shutdown in March, with the Medicine Hat Golf & Country Club planning to host 17 weddings at that time.

“You feel for the brides who are calling you in April and May and saying, ‘What do you think?’” said general manager Cam Jacques. “Of course, restrictions change almost weekly. A lot of them have chosen to re-book for next year and some are trying to get some done in the fall.”

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The same happened down the road at Desert Blume Golf Club, as they had to deal with dozens of tournament and event cancellations.

Since being allowed to re-open at the beginning of May though, Desert Blume has seen some of their customers contact them to re-schedule for the fall.

“We currently could have some 50-person gathering events and we can have some 100-person seated events,” said owner and general manager Trevor Ellerman. “So, it’s allowed us to start looking into tournaments, to start taking some bookings for weddings.”

Times are still tough for event venues such as local golf courses and the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede who have seen a large source of on and off-season revenue dry up.

At Desert Blume, they are reporting a drop of at least 70 percent in the volume of events but are happy to see some parties interested in re-booking this fall.

“Obviously we lost all of those, some have re-booked,” said Ellerman. “But, the ability now to maybe have some of those events on a smaller scale definitely helps the revenues and more so just gets us back to what we think is that normalcy.”

Medalta say they’ve had no major change in demand when it comes to 2020 event bookings as a direct response to Alberta’s re-opening, however are reporting an increase in inquiries for bookings in 2021.

Inquiries surrounding Christmas parties haven’t been quite as popular as wedding and fundraiser bookings according to Jacques and Ellerman due to a variety of reasons.

They say the fragile economy as a result of the pandemic is a factor in that, as some local businesses may be less willing to spend money on celebrations while they try to keep their company afloat.

According to Jacques, there are still a lot of question marks when it comes to expected demand this winter.

“November to December which typically we have 40-45 Christmas parties, it’s still up in the air,” he said. “They’re on the books still, no one has actually called and said, ‘I want to cancel our Christmas party’ yet. But, we figure there will be some cancellations just for some businesses that aren’t doing as well with the financial pressures.”

Both Desert Blume and the MHGCC say there are still plenty of spaces for those wanting to book events, but still need to follow physical distancing and COVID-19 prevention protocols.

Jacques said there are still plenty of logistical hurdles like buffet service being banned, however added any business is good business these days.

“I hope this is not the new normal,” he said. “I hope we get back to something more similar to what we’ve been doing for the last couple decades of hosting lots of events.”