News
Attendance Trending Higher At Westerner Days!

The second day of Westerner Days Fair & Exposition saw the community come together in celebration for McDonald’s Kids’ Day, despite the rain that came down in the evening. Over 20,000 people entered the grounds to test out the rides, eat some fair food in the Grub Hub, and check out classic rockers Chilliwack and Kim Mitchell in the ENMAX Centrium, sponsored by 106.7 The Drive and 100.7 CRUZ FM.
The concert was clearly a Red Deer favourite. It kicked off at 8:00pm with 3,400 fans crowding the stands to see Chilliwack. Not long after, co-headliner Kim Mitchell took the stage, finishing the show off with a standing ovation.
Tonight’s ENMAX Centrium Main Stage show is Tom Cochrane with Red Rider, and openers Jamie Woodfin and Ken Stead. Fair-goers can get free reserved floor seating by going to the Tickets Alberta Box Office in the lobby of the ENMAX Centrium at 4:00pm today. These tickets are free with gate admission.
The Grub Hub has been a busy place this year, where attendees can chow down on all of the carnival classics, like corn dogs and mini donuts. A favourite this year is The Smokehouse, which offers mountains of meat sandwiches to fill your belly and delight your taste buds.
Fair attendees can win Grub Hub cash by participating in the Openhwy “Come Together and Get Social” contest, sponsored by Plato’s Closet. While here, use #WesternerDays and #TicketsAlberta when posting on social media to win daily prizes! If you are a winner, we will notify you day of to pick up your prize at the Guest Services booth.
Visitors should make sure to visit the various livestock areas on the grounds. Check out the Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships at 6:00pm daily (except on Sunday, when they are at 2:00pm), or stop into The Little Red Barn and visit the petting zoo. Be sure to participate in the Peavy Mart Ag-Mazing Scavenger Hunt, where you can be entered to win the Ultimate Urban Farm Experience prize package. Details are available at westernerdays.ca/information/raffles.
In addition to regular fair activities, some of the Westerner Days entertainers went to the Red Deer Regional Hospital and Ronald McDonald House to “Share the Fair”, presented by Olymel, a program designed to bring a taste of the fair to children who may not be able to attend due to an illness. Doo Doo the Clown, Bandaloni, and The Magic of Aaron Matthews participated.
“Most of the time the kids entertain me as I’m entertaining them,” says Bandaloni, the One Man Band. “[It raises my spirits to see the kids] however, it’s nice to see that there’s not many children here, which is a great thing.”
Check out the full Shaw TV segment about Share the Fair, featured on their YouTube channel (ShawTVRedDeer).
For more information, including event schedules, visit westernerdays.ca
Fair Attendance
Wednesday, July 19, 2017 – 13,583
Thursday, July 20, 2017 – 20,940 (Record set in 2016 with 23,133)
Total Attendance for 2017 – 34,523
Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships
1st – Louie Johner, Wei’s Westerner Wear, Red Deer – 1:16:61
2nd – Brian Cardinal, Challard Pipeline, Rocky Mountain House – 1:17:45
3rd – Dale Young, Calgary Flames Ambassadors, Calgary – 1:17:50
4th – Neil Salmond, ABC Restaurant, Red Deer – 1:17:51
Top Four Wagons from Thursday, July 20, 2017
Top Four Wagons Overall After Two Nights
1st – Louie Johner, Wei’s Westerner Wear, Red Deer – 2:32:43
2nd – Lee Adamson, A-1 Rentals, Camrose/ Wetaskiwin – 2:35:15
3rd – Linda ShippeltHubl, KFC/Taco Bell, Red Deer – 2:35:45
4th – Brent Lang Red Deer RV Parts, Red Deer – 2:35:94
International
Bongino announces FBI will release files on COVID cover up, Mar-a-Lago Raid and more

MxM News
Quick Hit:
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that the bureau will begin releasing information on a number of controversial investigations long shielded from public view.
Key Details:
- Bongino said the FBI is clearing information on high-profile cases, including COVID, Crossfire Hurricane, and the Trump Mar-a-Lago raid.
- The bureau is actively working with the DOJ on releasing Epstein case details and cracking down on child sexual abuse content.
- Bongino dismissed media attacks on FBI Director Kash Patel as “verifiable lies” and accused the press of fabricating stories.
Diving Deeper:
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino disclosed on Saturday that the bureau will begin releasing information previously kept under tight wraps, including cases that many Americans believe were swept under the rug for political or institutional protection.
Bongino, a former NYPD officer, Secret Service agent, and outspoken conservative commentator, took to X to announce that his office has already started cooperating with Congress and the public by providing long-requested information. Among the cases he cited: the attempted assassination of Rep. Steve Scalise, the Nashville Christian school shooting, the Crossfire Hurricane probe, and the COVID-19 origins and cover-up.
“This isn’t business as usual anymore,” Bongino wrote. “We’re clearing information to Congress, and the public, as quickly as possible.”
One of the most politically explosive revelations relates to the FBI’s handling of the Mar-a-Lago raid, an unprecedented move to search the home of the sitting president’s top political opponent, President Donald Trump. Bongino’s announcement signals that internal communications and case files may soon be scrutinized by congressional investigators and the public alike.
Bongino also confirmed that the agency is working closely with the DOJ on the Epstein case, noting the overwhelming volume of child sexual abuse material that must be reviewed. He emphasized that protecting children remains a core mission of the FBI under his and Director Kash Patel’s leadership.
“Operation ‘Restoring Justice,’ where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning,” he wrote. “Think twice if you’ve targeted children, because you’re next.”
The deputy director didn’t hold back in pushing back against media reports that characterized Patel’s leadership as unserious or performative. “The media continue to entirely fabricate stories,” Bongino wrote, describing reports about Patel skipping briefings and attending sports events as “a verifiable lie.”
He defended Patel’s work ethic, noting that the FBI director routinely works 10–12 hour days and meets with top counter-terror officials and global law enforcement partners.
International
UK Supreme Court rules ‘woman’ means biological female

Susan Smith (L) and Marion Calder, directors of ‘For Women Scotland’ cheer as they leave the Supreme Court on April 16, 2025, in London, England after winning their appeal in defense of biological reality
From LifeSiteNews
By Michael Haynes, Snr. Vatican Correspondent
The ruling, in which the court rejected transgender legal status, comes as a victory for campaigners who have urged the recognition of biological reality and common sense in the law.
The U.K. Supreme Court has issued a ruling stating that “woman” in law refers to a biological female, and that transgender “women” are not female in the eyes of the law.
In a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled today that legally transgender “women” are not women, since a woman is legally defined by “biological sex.”
Published April 16, the Supreme Court’s 88-page verdict was handed down on the case of Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v. The Scottish Ministers (Respondent). The ruling marks the end of a battle of many years between the Scottish government and women’s right campaigners who sought to oppose the government’s promotion of transgender ideology.
In 2018, the Scottish government issued a decision to allow the definition of “woman” to include men who assume their gender to be female, opening the door to allowing so-called “transgender” individuals to identify as women.
This guidance was challenged by women’s rights campaigners, arguing that a woman should be defined in line with biological sex, and in 2022 the Scottish government was forced to change its definition after the court found that such a move was outside the government’s “legislative competence.”
Given this, the government issued new guidance which sought to cover both aspects: saying that biological women are women, but also that men with a “gender recognition certificate” (GRC) are also considered women. A GRC is given to people who identify as the opposite sex and who have had medical or surgical interventions in an attempt to “reassign” their gender.
Women Scotland Ltd appealed this new guidance. At first it was rejected by inner courts, but upon their taking the matter to the Supreme Court in March last year, the nation’s highest judicial body took up the case.
Today, with the ruling issued against transgender ideology, women’s campaigners are welcoming the news as a win for women’s safety.
“A thing of beauty,” praised Lois McLatchie Miller from the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group.
“They looked at the whole argument, not just who goes in what bathroom and trans women. This is going to change organizations, employers, service providers,” Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, told the Telegraph. “Everyone is going to have to pay attention to this, this is from the highest court in the land. It’s saying sex in the Equality Act is biological sex. Self ID is dead.”
“Victory,” commented Charlie Bently-Astor, a prominent campaigner for biological reality against the transgender movement, after she nearly underwent surgical transition herself at a younger age.
“After 15 years of insanity, the U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that men who say they are ‘trans women’ are not women,” wrote leader of the Christian political movement David Kurten.
Leader of the Conservative Party – the opposition to the current Labour government – Kemi Badenoch welcomed the court’s ruling, writing that “saying ‘trans women are women’ was never true in fact and now isn’t true in law, either.”
Others lamented the fact that the debate even was taking place, let alone having gone to the Supreme Court.
“What a parody we live in,” commented Reform Party candidate Joseph Robertson.
Rupert Lowe MP – who has risen to new prominence in recent weeks for his outspoken condemnation of the immigration and rape gang crisis – wrote, “Absolute madness that we’re even debating what a woman is – it’s a biological fact. No amount of woke howling will ever change that.”
However, the Supreme Court did not wish to get pulled into siding with certain arguments, with Lord Hodge of the tribunal stating that “we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.”
The debate has taken center stage in the U.K. in recent years, not least for the role played by the current Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer himself has become notorious throughout the nation for his contradictions and inability to answer the question of what a woman is, having flip-flopped on saying that a woman can have a penis, due to his support for the transgender movement.
At the time of going to press, neither Starmer nor his deputy Angela Rayner issued a statement about the Supreme Court ruling. There has been no statement issued from the Scottish government either, nor from the office of the first minister.
Transgender activists have expectedly condemned the ruling as “a disgusting attack on trans rights.” One leading transgender campaigner individual told Sky News, “I am gutted to see the judgement from the Supreme Court which ends 20 years of understanding that transgender people with a GRC are able to be, for all intents and purposes, legally recognized as our true genders.”
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