Big Four Building

Once a good venue, but really going down hill fast! We held our events (The Body Soul & Spirit Expo) for many years at the Big Four Building, and finally moved them to the Grey Eagle Event Centre.
It was the best thing we ever done! Parking kept going up (I hear it’s going up to $ 20), it’s old, cracking cement floors, drab painted cinder block walls, poor lighting, with many florescent bulb burn out make it a terrible environment for any event.
What really made our decision to leave is what we consider a complete lack of integrity from the venue sales staff. We put our fall show on hold for ONE YEAR, and they were so desperate to get their rent that they sought out and booked an ex-​employee to do our event under a different name.
Our lawyers are still looking into a legal remedy, and all our other venues in Canada which host our event are shocked that they did this without ever consulting us. This is something that is never done in our industry an is considered dishonorable, unethical at best, and probably libelous.
Unfortunately, the legal costs and the deep pockets of the Calgary Stampede Foundation make it difficult to do anything about it if your a small community event! it was best for us to move on, and cancel all our future dates. We were not the only one, as the Calgary Health Show, the Model Train Show and many others have also moved from their venue, and we know a few more are considering doing the same.
Ironically, we were told by the Stampede that if we did anything, including hitting them or their «new client» with a law suite, we would never be welcome back. yes, you heard right. we were told that they would be punished for exercising our legal rights and seeking the protection protection the courts.
Fortunately, our event has found a new home and is better than ever before. So we are happy to have been so unceremoniously mistreated — it’s what was necessary to get us to leave. Our event continues to grow, while other events at the stampede are going down.
Take my advise, don’t do anything there if possible! I really wouldn’t recommend this venue for any event. book the Telus Convention Centre, or any alternative other than this one! If you have to, be careful, check past law suits, and other grievances and reports, they are out there!
On a positive note, we meet and are still friends with many people that worked with us at the stampede. Many have left, but a few are still there.

Great venue for parties. Lots of washrooms. What else do you need for a party?

What’s there to say about the Big Four building? Well, it’s good for tradeshows. I’ve been both an attendee and an exhibitor here for shows like the Global Petroleum Show and Calgary’s International Beerfest.
The upstairs and downstairs halls are both quite large. Different room layouts and setups don’t seem to be a problem. The washrooms have been kept clean and in good repair.
One thing I’m not so pleased about are the geese that are always hanging around the front of the building. There’s goose poop everywhere. When you’ve got heavy things to carry through the front door that you could be using wheels for, but are carrying them to dodge the poop, it’s a little inconvenient to say the least.
The best thing about the Big Four is that it’s home to Mavericks, although I’m not sure what they will do now that the casino isn’t housed here.