2023 PNE

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by supafamous

When you say stock up do you mean "fill your belly till it's bursting before I walk out the gates" or "I'm gonna freeze two hundred of these so I can satisfy my midnight cravings and have something to eat on cheat days"?

I'm here for the latter.

I always wait until I'm leaving before I stuff my face with food, usually grab dinner, and take something to go. I don't like boozing and walking around all while full.

As for the donuts, I don't eat them right away, I take them home and throw 'em in the air fryer after smoking a joint

[Hondaracer]

They’ve got a corn dog now alternating meatballs and mozzarella balls at the corn dog place up by the concert stage, highly recommended

[mikemhg]

DONE

[Eatman]

Went twice so far this year, once opening weekend and again last night.
I have to say, attendance is noticeably down this year, I would say about 30-40%. No lineups at any food vendors or games, only the popular rides had lines.

There's just really not much to see this year, no exhibitions or new special events like the immersive art exhibit or Nintendo event from previous years. Heck, even Henry's outdoor bbq chicken wasn't invited back this year, some beef going on with management and them.

Maybe they spent all their resources on the new amphitheatre..

[Hondaracer]

I think once the amphitheatre opens, they will attempt to have some sort of renaissance because I agree in general it’s becoming quite stale. We typically buy the seasons passes because we will go a few nights a week for the concerts and dinner or a drink but there is almost zero reason for anyone who has to commute a distance to go more than once.

I know parking is a problem in the area but I feel like moving the horse races away from the Friday/saturdays the PNE is on was a mistake. Should have them them going and offered something for people to hop over to in between the PNE stuff

[68style]

No new infrasructure either, the buildings are old gulags for any events to be in.

I wnet last day of Stampede this year and despite being a similar event, they have access to the giant brand new BMO Centre where they can put the market and drinking areas and art exhibits etc... it's so much more attractive.

https://venues.calgarystampede.com/e...ces/bmo-centre

That said for some stupid reason the SuperDogs was OUTDOORS with like a couple of wooden and metal bleachers towed into a grass area. Lke WTF?? 30C out and make dogs run around and people / kids sit there in the direct sun???

[Eatman]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I think once the amphitheatre opens, they will attempt to have some sort of renaissance because I agree in general it’s becoming quite stale. We typically buy the seasons passes because we will go a few nights a week for the concerts and dinner or a drink but there is almost zero reason for anyone who has to commute a distance to go more than once.

I know parking is a problem in the area but I feel like moving the horse races away from the Friday/saturdays the PNE is on was a mistake. Should have them them going and offered something for people to hop over to in between the PNE stuff

As for parking, that hasn't been an issue so far, neighborhood lots have not been filling up with rates sitting at $10-15.

it's sad because this is not the PNE I grew up attending and now taking my kids there, it's just depressing to see the way things are now. Fingers crossed for next year.

[Hondaracer]

Obviously the construction of the amphitheater ate up a lot of space at the bottom but man when the dueling pianos was in the tent down there with the beer garden that was a hell of a lot of fun nightly

Now the setup inside the roller derby barn there is fucking wack and sounds absolutely terrible

[Tapioca]

The people and families who have money to burn in this city are not going to the PNE because they're either on vacation in the summer months, or they're doing a hundred other things that Vancouver and the surrounding region offer in the summer months. The PNE is kinda lowbrow for this demographic.

The PNE is for middle and lower-income folks, but ~$130 just to get in the door with a couple of ride passes for the kids is a lot in these times of inflation. Once you add in food for a day and you're close to $250-$300 for a day out with the kids. With that said, it looks like they're offering some more promos for the last week to boost attendance - $99 for 4 gate admissions and 2 ride passes.

When the PNE brought in 90s groups for the summer night concerts about 10 years ago, it was worth paying gate admission to see those bands for free. Too bad those days are gone.

[68style]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Obviously the construction of the amphitheater ate up a lot of space at the bottom but man when the dueling pianos was in the tent down there with the beer garden that was a hell of a lot of fun nightly

Now the setup inside the roller derby barn there is fucking wack and sounds absolutely terrible

Dueling pianos for years was the best thing to do by far at PNE, especially for adults with no kids. They had it at Stampede too, but somehow the vibe wasn’t the same as the PNE version at its peak

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by Eatman

Went twice so far this year, once opening weekend and again last night.
I have to say, attendance is noticeably down this year, I would say about 30-40%. No lineups at any food vendors or games, only the popular rides had lines.

There's just really not much to see this year, no exhibitions or new special events like the immersive art exhibit or Nintendo event from previous years. Heck, even Henry's outdoor bbq chicken wasn't invited back this year, some beef going on with management and them.

Maybe they spent all their resources on the new amphitheatre..

I was curious what beef went down, Henry's chicken is my go to every time I do the PNE, and they've been pretty much a legacy tenant there.

Really curious what happened.

[68style]

Remove the original mini donut people got in a beef too and disappeared, their kids were running a slightly renamed version at Stampede still… not sure if the PNE beef got resolved. Seems like PNE pisses off a lot of vendors.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by 68style

Dueling pianos for years was the best thing to do by far at PNE, especially for adults with no kids. They had it at Stampede too, but somehow the vibe wasn’t the same as the PNE version at its peak

The old couple that were there 3-4 years ago were must see every time we went, both are professional musicians from Detroit and ultimately had a couple kids so they stopped coming west for the PNE. Both of them were sooo good though, could bang out any request and they just sounded amazing, some of their renditions were the best I’ve ever heard live

Unfortunately since they’ve had fairly meh duos and it’s compounded by a poor venue with bad sound as opposed to that old covered tent area

[keifun]

Today driving by I saw the grandmas and grandpas offering parking for as low as $7
It does seem lower key this year.

[Hondaracer]

Wasn’t open today

[Mikoyan]

We went on Saturday, and definitely noticed the lack of crowds. The only new thing, if you can call it that, were the two WW1 cannons that they dug up accidentally when excavating for the new amphitheatre.

With the nightly concert moved to the Colliseum, they lost a building to use. We still go because the kids love the Super dogs. But yeah they need to get something new for next year.

[RevYouUp]

The last weekend is always full of people. I’d avoid going this weekend

[Eatman]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

I was curious what beef went down, Henry's chicken is my go to every time I do the PNE, and they've been pretty much a legacy tenant there.

Really curious what happened.

Yeah I eat it every year too, half chicken combo yeah yeah.
They started getting good again recently too, there were a few bad years where the chicken was not good, but I still went back out of tradition.

I believe they changed ownership some time ago, so that may have affected the quality.

[6793026]

^ it's the best time to shop at 5 PM / closing time cause they just wnat to clear away stock..

[MG1]

Did any of you see Nespresso giving out samples of coffee at the PNE?