by Bob Groeneveld/Special to the Langley Advance
The hard work that brought last week’s world-class equestrian events to Langley pays off not only for Thunderbird Show Park, but for the whole community.
The Longines FEI World Cup Jumping event, closing out the week-long Summer Fort Festival on Sunday, Aug. 26, was one of several that brought horses, riders, and their entourages to visit Langley from around the world this year alone.
Thunderbird hosted the Nation’s Cup in June, in which Canada took second place to Ireland – but due to two earlier victories, in Florida and Mexico, will advance to the finals in Barcelona this fall.
That event was doubly satisfying for Thunderbird president Jane Tidball, daughter of the renowned show park’s late founders, George and Dianne Tidball. Not only did she consider hosting another prestigious international show to be a feather in Thunderbird’s cap, but her daughter Laura-Jane Tidball is a member of the advancing Canadian team.
Hosting each event is an achievement, explained Jane Tidball.
“Those are hard events to get and you have to jump through a lot of hoops and do a lot of things right to be eligible to host them.”
And each brings economic spin-offs for the whole community.
Tidball estimated that shows like the Nation’s Cup and World Cup events hosted by Thunderbird bring up to 4,000 people into Langley.
“We’ve got 950 horses, and with each one of those horses comes about four people, including parents, the helpers for the stalls… so the restaurants are full, the hotels are full.”
Tidball’s estimate of Thunderbird’s local impact may even be low, suggested Colleen Clark of the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce.
“They bring people in from all over North America and the world for show jump competitions,” Clark noted. “They don’t just stay at the park.”
Many of the competitors’ entourages and spectators in town for the World Cup show last weekend would have checked out the rest of Langley, she said. “Some may have just decided to go for a drive and they may have discovered RibFest – that kind of a situation.”
“This isn’t campers, it’s not your hostel vacation,” Clark emphasized. “These are people who have a couple of hundred thousand dollars invested in their horses and their trailers. They’re flying their horses around and stuff. Let’s be honest, it’s money coming into the community.”
Erinn Krebda of Langley Tourism agreed, “Participants stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop at our stores, visit our attractions, our wineries and more. They are contributing to the local economy and creating jobs.”
Furthermore, she added, “The pictures they take, posts to social media, and stories they tell reach friends and family who in turn may consider visiting Langley themselves.”
Krebda stressed their importance, “Without visitor spending, it is possible that our museums, attractions, wineries, sporting events, and more would not all exist for residents to enjoy.”
She couldn’t offer specifics of Thunderbird’s impact on Langley, but she offered some relevant B.C. statistics. While international visitors accounted for about 25 per cent of 20.6 million overnight stays in B.C. in 2016, they accounted for close to half of $11.6 billion spent here.
Tidball noted that Thunderbird’s shows bring in “I would say about 50 per cent local and 50 per cent people who have come from other countries and other areas.”
“We don’t just do jumper shows,” she pointed out. “We do Arabian shows and quarterhorse shows, and we do dog agility shows, and all kinds of stuff – we’ve got the RCMP Musical Ride coming to us in September.”
Furthermore, Thunderbird’s community impact goes beyond money for merchants and hoteliers.
There are specifically local activities, she said.
“We’ll do a dressage and a jumping winter series just for locals, and it’s very price-effective, it doesn’t cost a lot of money to go,” Tidball added. “And we also do a community ride every Tuesday and Saturday during the winter, where people can come over and ride their horses – we have three indoor arenas, here – so they have a chance to use Thunderbird, as well.”
“We do a lot of fund raising [for local and international charities] here,” Tidball said, “because we really believe that it’s not just about us, and it’s not just about people who own horses, it’s about the entire community, and really, about the entire world.”