YYC Princess first business to receive her crown at YYCSpotlight

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For the past two and a half years of the pandemic, Caitlynne Medrek and her band of magical princesses have brought joy in dark times to children across Calgary.

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When the Calgary Stampeders host the defending Gray Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday, YYC Princess will be front and center as the first recipient of the #YYCSpotlight sweepstakes.

The joint promotion between Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, Square and Interac Corp. is taking place in an effort to help boost local businesses, and will honor 14 throughout the remainder of the Stampeders CFL season and the upcoming Flames NHL season .

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For Medrek, owner of YYC Princess, they were able to harness the imaginations of children struggling with isolation and provide a way out in the pandemic.

“Seeing these heroes come to life in front of their eyes reminds them to be kids again, reminds them to keep using their imaginations to play and see that one day you too can grow up to be a princess, literally.” Medrek said, as he donned the full Ice Princess outfit.

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The princesses make appearances at parties, community events, business meetings and free visits to Alberta Children’s Hospital. There are 43 artists ready to play up to 30 different characters on request.

Nominations began on July 6 via Instagram and Twitter and Rachelle Roulston, special projects manager for CSEC, said they have already collected around 500 nominations. People are asked to

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Those selected will receive promotions on the day of the game at McMahon Stadium or at the Saddledome, as well as the possibility of choosing between different prize packages.

CSEC began hosting this promotion with Square and Interac in 2021 when they began switching their stadiums to mobile POS, with the review taking place last fall.

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Using this technology upgrade as an opportunity to highlight local businesses was important to CSEC.

“We are very big in the community and we want to help and support as many businesses as we can,” Roulston said. “We think this is a great way to help showcase, get something out of your brand, get the word out to people. And what better place than the Dome or McMahon, which has an audience of more than 20,000 people.

Roulston said the entire organization moved to credit or debit only after the pandemic, necessitating a payment system upgrade. Before the pandemic, 50 to 60 percent of all in-game purchases were cash sales, which have now moved to debit.

The system is designed to reduce payment processing by 20 per cent, he said this has led to increased sales due to its ability to move more people through queues.

Cole Baldwin, Square’s business expert and sales leader, said Calgary is the only city with full integration of its technology into its major professional sports venues in Canada.

“During [intermissions]there’s only about 18 minutes to do everything you need to do before the next record drops,” he said.
“So reducing transaction time and fulfillment time on the back end has helped dramatically.”

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Twitter: @JoshAldrich03