Some of the eats available during the 2019 Alberta Food and Beverage Expo in Grande Prairie (Photo: Alberta Food and Beverage Expo / Facebook)

By Abby Zieverink

At the Tara Centre

Alberta Food and Beverage Expo goes Saturday at Evergreen Park

Aug 28, 2021 | 7:00 AM

The Alberta Food and Beverage Expo is back in Grande Prairie with new technology to eliminate contacts between vendors and guests.

Alberta Food and Beverage Expo owner and operator Chris Meilleur says guests at the expo, which goes from 4-10 p.m. at the Tara Centre and Evergreen Park Saturday, will be given a silk wristband that they can digitally load sampling tickets onto, rather than be given physical tickets.

He says the bracelets will eliminate roughly 90 per cent of transfer between vendors and guests.

“It has the RFID tag that’s built into the top of the bracelet so that when people are walking around, they can actually load their bracelet with more tokens and use it to scan at the booths.”

Meilleur says they have spent the past year figuring out what the expo will look like coming out of COVID. He says eliminating the exchange back and forth between vendors and guests was a top priority.

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“Grande Prairie has the first crack at it coming out of COVID…. We’re super excited to launch that coming out of COVID to help make the show better, but also help make people feel more comfortable because everyone won’t be touching everything.”

He says not only are they excited to be launching new technology with this expo, but suggests they are happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel

“We’re really excited, very excited to be back in Grande Prairie and launch the system be out there and helping again…and meeting the people behind the businesses and getting the support locally that all businesses are needing again.”

This year, the Alberta Food and Beverage Expo in Grande Prairie will see over 100 vendors. Meilleur says although the expo is usually in March in the city, he believes the change was good with the loosening of the restrictions.

“We had a lot of calls from restaurants and microbrews and vineyards locally that were really hoping and banking on us doing a show that was not at a similar time frame as before.”

“I think everyone felt this show will help get everyone out and checking out what everyone (local Businesses) got,” he adds.

Meilleur says next year, they are planning on furthering the wristband technology so guests can put tokens onto the bracelets using their phones.

The Alberta Food and Beverage Expo will go from 4-10 p.m. Saturday at the Tara Centre at Evergreen Park. Entry tickets will be available at the door.

(With files from Shaun Penner)