The streets of Lloydminster were packed as the The Lloyd Ex Fair was officially kicked off with an annual parade on Wednesday morning. This year’s Fair features Tom Cochrane on Friday night and wraps up Saturday night with the annual fireworks display. Jeannette Benoit-Leipert Meridian Source Photos
An impressive number of floats graced the streets of Lloydminster yesterday for the annual parade to kick off this year’s fair.
Lloydminster Agricultural Exhibition Association Marketing Manager, Tara Eyben, says the numbers were teetering on record-breaking.
“We are actually getting close to a record-breaking number of floats this year. We’re currently at 117,” said Eyben.
“I believe whenever they do the setup they always aim for at least 60, and I think between 80-95 is the typical number (of floats).”
Parade judges will award prizes in several different categories, from the top overall float to the most informative.
“Part of the judging will also be based on our theme. Our theme this year is called ‘Times are changin’,” said Eyben.
The parade route was slightly different this year due to the construction going on in the heart of the city, but that hasn’t affected the registration numbers.
“There’s more entries than we’ve had in several years,” said Eyben.
“Our honorary parade Marshall this year is Dr. Nekky Jamal,” she added.
Another exciting thing about this year’s parade is that both city marching bands were able to participate for the first time since COVID.
“We actually both school divisions this year–we have the marching bands back in the parade,” said Eyben.
She said streets which were designated for the parade remained closed until all entries returned to the fairgrounds, which was estimated to take an hour and a half.
