As feared, Calgary Stampede canvas auction down from 2014
Posted Mar 19, 2015 8:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary Stampede chuckwagon drivers are staying positive as the downturn in the economy made its presence felt at this year’s canvas auction Thursday night.
The grand total for the 36 drivers was just over $2.78 million for an average of $77,278.
That’s down from $3.54 million last year, which an average of $98,403 but still $1 million more than the $1.7 million year of 2009.
However many saw drops in the tens of thousands, including second pick Rae Croteau Jr., who went from $135,000 in 2014 to $75,000 this time around.
“It’s down, but that’s just part of the economy,” he said. “I think if you can maintain a relationship with a group of people and work together, long-term it works out better instead of just trying to go for the cash every year.”
That was the sentiment of many drivers who remained positive and thankful they still had advertisers.
Jason Glass, who received the highest bid in 2014 with $170,000, got $90,000 Thursday, but said many felt it would be worse than that.
“I think everybody kind of was, you just look around downtown Calgary, I don’t know if you want to call it a recession, but there’s some tough times happening right now and no one really knows when we’re going to come out of it,” he said. “I think this sale went excellent, it really did.”
The highest bid went to the first driver and defending GMC Rangeland champion Kurt Bensmiller, who was scooped up by Tsuu T’ina Nation for $170,000, which was actually up $30,000 from 2014.
“I didn’t know what to expect, I knew a couple of guys were coming here to buy, so to get that high is definitely exciting,” he said.
But after Bensmiller, there wouldn’t be a driver who saw an increase from last year until Vern Nolin in the 14th spot.
The last spot brought a pleasant end to the night with rookie Dave Galloway receiving $100,000, after the previous 19 drivers failed to garner six-digit totals.
In the sixth spot, Rick Fraser took in $80,000, whereas in 2014 he received $130,000 and he echoed Croteau Jr.’s sentiment.
“The most important thing here is developing a relationship with your advertisers throughout the years and if you’re lucky when tough times come like it has, they’ll still come,” he said. “You want to be here, even in a poorer economy like this, this is it. You want to be here for the Kentucky Derby, the Stanley Cup, the Calgary Stampede is so important to us.”
