Behind the Scenes at the Winter Equestrian Festival

By Jacqueline Kuron The annual Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) is the world’s largest and longest-running equestrian event. Ahead of WEF 2022—running January 5th to April 3rd at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center—we spoke with Vaneli Bojkova, Vice President, Operations for Equestrian Sport Productions. View the latest issue. When do preparations and planning for WEF begin? Year-round! We’re constantly learning, fine-tuning, and planning for WEF, but late summer into early fall is when the bulk of the work begins. Vaneli Bojkova How does Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) get ready for WEF? During the summer, millions of dollars were invested to improve the arena footing and surroundings of the competition arenas. Most of the infrastructure for WEF is a temporary build. Due to hurricane season in Florida, we don’t start building the temporary stables, vendor tents, and additional viewing stands until late October, which is a short window before the season. What types of vendors will be present at this year’s event? We have everything from food and beverage vendors to premier equestrian retail vendors offering custom saddlery, tack, custom boots, and equestrian apparel, but also unique clothing boutiques for every budget, jewelry from semi-precious stones to luxury diamonds, furnish- ings and housewares, art, and even apparel and gifts for pet lovers. How has WEF adjusted safety guidelines because of COVID-19? For our extensive and industry-leading COVID-19 Action Plan, WEFPBIEC were recently honored with a second place SUNsational Award in the “Event Safety Plan” cate- gory from the Florida Festivals & Events Association (FFEA). Safety is still a primary concern, and many of these proto- cols will remain in place, such as sanitation around high- touch points and enhanced and expanded virtual viewing. What is the most challenging part of organizing and planning WEF? Unforeseen factors like weather (hurricanes) and pandemics (equine- and human-related) can all create logistical challenges in organization and planning. Also, the massive increase in the number of horses, from 300 at the beginning of December to 2,500 horses arriving to compete in January. What is the most fun and exciting part? I absolutely love the excitement around Saturday Night Lights, a weekly highlight event. The evenings are full of great energy, with live music, kid’s activities, food vendors, and hospitality venues all centered around world-class, Olympic-level show jumping. It’s a must-see for every WEF spectator.