Business View Magazine | June 2022

187 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 property. So, this building created a new hub in the way that the venue operates. We’d already experienced what air quality was like at these horse shows during the four to five months of wintertime, in two-thirds of North America… at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto or the American Royal in Kansas City. Well, WestWorld faced the same air quality challenges, just on the other side of the weather dial. Instead of trying to make things dry and warm, we had to stay cool and shaded. And that’s exactly what we did when we built the Equestrian Center.” When COVID-19 hit, WestWorld’s engineering team introduced an ion treatment, the same technology used in hospitals and operating rooms, into their air handling systems. They were able to act swiftly because their existing setup was already geared towards atmospheric quality. “The second thing we did was to put disinfecting UV treatments about eight feet inside those buildings,” Dygert adds. “That was a huge factor that enabled our event producers to stay productive, without creating a biological problem. We never had an outbreak.” In 2020, the League of Agriculture & Equine Centers named WestWorld “Facility of the Year” at its annual symposium. This year, on January 18th, Dygert was inducted into their Hall of Fame in recognition of his nearly three decades in the equine management industry. “WestWorld’s future is extremely bright, especially now that the facility’s threats have mostly been tended to,” Dygert shares. “That doesn’t mean we can stand still. But what’s in the cards, I think for the entire events space, is more and better. Unfortunately, on an economic level in North America, the situation reminds me of the late ‘70s, early ‘80s when we had the cash shortages. Different causes, but you’re still seeing the same economic wheel turn. What that’s going to mean when you’re talking about recreational functions like what we do – that I can’t predict. But I’m confident we’ll all be fine. It’s part of that bigger cycle. And WestWorld is in a great position, trained and knowledgeable, to be able to service that entire sector of the industry extremely well. So, I see it as being bright.” WESTWORLD OF SCOTTSDALE