Drumheller was a hub of activity last weekend as many locals and visitors came out for the third annual DinoFest. It appears this should be a strong summer for tourism in the valley.
On your mark, get set, summer.
Drumheller’s busy season is upon the valley and by all indications it looks like it could be a banner year for tourism.
This weekend the season was welcomed in by Dinofest and just two weeks later, the Gran Fondo bicycle race will be taking to the blacktop in and around the valley. Last week, Travel Drumheller hosted a meet and greet and mini trade show with local operators and the atmosphere was very optimistic.
Chris Curtis of Travel Drumheller said his message of making the valley a top tourism destination resonated with the whole room. He also was impressed by the caliber of attractions that have been established in the valley.
Judging by the excellent Victoria Day long weekend, indicators are strong for the season.
Jenn Balderston of the Atlas Coal Mine said the weekend was record breaking.
“It was our busiest May Long to date,” she said.
Over the weekend they had 1,043 person tours, up 181 tours from last year.
“The Atlas continues to grow each year at an unprecedented rate and we are thrilled visitors are interested it the valley’s mining history and hopefully that interest only grows,” said Balderston.
“My word, the long weekend was awesome,” is how Jay Russell of the Atlas Coal Mine summed up the season kick off.
“There are issues we want to have addressed in the next couple years because of the growth, I think we are going to have to put them on the front burner,” said Russell.
These are issues such as overflow parking and adding more tours on the schedule.
“These are excellent problems to have.”
The Tyrrell also opened the season with strong numbers. They had 11,203 visitors over the long weekend. While they were down about 500 compared to last year, Mike Dooley of they Tyrrell explains this could be accounted for by the weather.
“If we had a strong Monday, possibly we would have been on par or even above,” said Dooley.
He says there is a strong season to look forward to, predicated on the incredible media coverage the valley received last season. This year the Tyrrell will also be in the Calgary Stampede parade.
“Last year we had the Amazing Race in Drumheller, and we’ve had Canada AM already this year, so there has been a ton of media coverage,” said Dooley. “We have DinoFest again, Tough Mudder and the Grand Fondo, there are a ton of events packed into this summer.”
