Three years ago, convention officials already knew the Rotary International Convention would be big, and the pressure was on to build a venue worthy of hosting over 20,000 global visitors.
But now with just three months to go, the more than 31,000 registered attendees for the June convention have blown away attendance records to Calgary international events. If numbers hold, it would be the second largest event held in the city after the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Madeleine King, past president of the Rotary Club of Downtown Calgary and club champion for the convention, said the numbers already indicate that the convention will be a huge success for the city.
“It’s pretty amazing that it’s happening, and the numbers at the moment are something like 16,000 already registered and paid, and a further 15,000 registered but not yet paid. So, they’re either waiting for local funding from all over the world, or for visas,” King said.
The return of the Rotary International Convention to Calgary, she said, was a rare occurrence for the annual gathering of Rotarians as it generally avoids returning to the same location twice.
“We hosted it in 1996, and that was said to be the best that there had been at that time,” King said.
That convention came together as a result of years of work, and the support of then-Mayor Ralph Klein in the 1980s, said King. It drew 24,963 attendees, which was the third largest Rotary International Convention in the 1990s, and an attendance number that wouldn’t be surpassed until 2004 in Osaka, Japan.
She said the City of Calgary has played no less a part in getting Rotary to come to Calgary, along with partnerships with the Calgary Stampede, Tourism Calgary, Calgary Economic Development, and numerous volunteers from other organizations.
Global collegiality from Rotary International Convention is needed now more than ever
King said there’s no better timing for that global collaboration.
“Rotary is all about service above self and collegiality, working and enjoying things with each other. We desperately need positive things at the moment, so, it will raise our spirits.”
“Once at the Rotary convention, I heard Bill Gates speak, and what he said about partnering with Rotary was he wasn’t interested in our money, but Rotary included leaders of all the communities in the world. These are people who lead it in their own communities, and they’re exactly the sort of people who we want as our future partners in Calgary.”
Mayor Gondek, speaking at her annual State of the City address to the Rotary Club of Downtown Calgary, said that in her role, she had an opportunity to travel to Poland and met with city officials from Oświęcim.
“It turns out that their deputy mayor, as well as the translator who was there, are both Rotarians. So, they’re coming to our city. They were very excited about it, and I told them I would take them on any tours they wanted to be on. I am happy to be involved in every way that you need me,” the mayor said.
“I am already talking to people about how exciting that time is going to be in our city. I’m here to support, I’m here to serve. You will see me actively involved in everything that we need to do.”
Joe Fras, President of the Rotary Club of Downtown Calgary, said that the programming for the convention was being planned by over 70 different Rotary clubs across southern Alberta.
He said the goal was to showcase Calgary’s western heritage and culture to the world, much like how Singapore did for Rotarians in 2024, and in Australia in 2023.
As part of the festivities, attendees will get to take in a smaller preview version of the Calgary Stampede’s Grandstand Show, and get to take in cultural events that speak to Calgary’s beginning as an agricultural centre to its growth to a world-class modern city.
“We had so much feedback from the last time the Rotary convention was here in 1996 and still get good memories. So, we’re looking forward to even doing a better job in terms of the hospitality and the warmth that Calgarians actually show to visitors,” Fras said.
Fras said that experience wouldn’t be complete without white hatting from volunteers and Tourism Calgary.
“We will don the white hats and welcome them as they come in through the airport. That’ll be the start of it. Through our clubs, host hospitality events. We’ve organized many local host hospitality dinners in our homes, which is a standard part of the Rotary International Convention, whether it’s in Singapore, Berlin or New Delhi. That’s what we’re looking forward to.”
The Rotary International Convention will be held at the BMO Centre and other venues across Calgary, from June 21 to June 25.
