North Battleford has been awarded the 2018 Saskatchewan Winter Games.
The news was made public Thursday morning at a news conference at NationsWEST Field House in North Battleford, but the official decision from the selection committee was made Wednesday morning.
The official announcement was made by Julie Brandt, chairperson of the Saskatchewan Games Council. The green, black and white logo for the 2018 Games was also unveiled.
The slogan of the North Battleford bid was “We Want the Games,” printed on placards that were held up by supporters at the CUplex during the site tour last week.
At the press conference, a celebratory Ryan Bater, chair of the bid committee, went over to one of those placards and placed a sticker over top of it, placing the word “got” over the word “want.”
“We knew we could do this,” said Bater.
“But, when you actually hear the words, you have to hear them again because you don’t really accept it the first time and because we worked so hard for so long, it was really nice to put that effort into this and then to actually have it come out the way it did. So we’re so overjoyed. I’m still having to pinch myself, it’s just fantastic news.”
This caps a whirlwind last couple of months for the North Battleford bid committee, as they scrambled to submit a bid package and assemble a team of volunteers in a short period of time. After they learned they were one of the two shortlisted finalists, they had to scramble again to organize the site tours for the selection committee evaluating the bid.
That took place at 11 locations in the Battlefords and area last Wednesday.
“At each location we had a site leader, we had groups of people there,” said Bater.
Plus, they had to keep a schedule.
“It was a very big day.”
After the site tour, Mayor Ian Hamilton expressed his total confidence the North Battleford games bid would be successful, making those sentiments known at a meeting of the city’s Planning Committee earlier this week.
The Battlefords and area had been competing with Lloydminster for the right to host the 2018 Games. The Sask. Winter Games selection committee toured both potential cities last week in anticipation of making a decision this week.
Facilities for the North Battleford bid include the CUplex, the Civic Centre, both Blue Mountain and Table Mountain, and other venues.
This is the second announcement of a major sporting event for North Battleford in less than a week. On the weekend it was announced the city would also host the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling in early January 2017 at the Civic Centre.
The city is also hosting the Provincial 55+ Games on July 5, 6 and 7, which means the run up to the 2018 Games will see a number of major sporting events hosted by North Battleford.
The Winter Games will happen over the course of one week in February 2018, most likely starting Feb. 18 of that year.
More than 2,000 athletes, coaches and managers in 17 sports are expected, and between 3,000 to 5,000 spectators are anticipated to be in the Battlefords for that week.
Somewhere in the range of 1,200 to 1,500 volunteers will be needed as well for the various responsibilities.
According to the Games committee, the sports featured will include alpine skiing, badminton, biathlon, bowling, bowling – special Olympics, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, gymnastics, hockey, judo, snowboarding, speed skating, synchronized swimming, table tennis, target shooting, weightlifting, and wrestling. One para-sport discipline will also be incorporated into the Games for the first time.
According to Games officials, as well as Destination Battlefords, who spearheaded the bid efforts, the expectation is the event will generate a major economic spinoff to the Battlefords estimated at upwards of $2 million.
Lorne Lasuita, provincial Games consultant who was at the news conference announcing the winning bid, says a number of factors put North Battleford’s bid over the top.
“I think it’s a combination of several things. Certainly the class of facilities and the facility availability that you have certainly lends itself to be able to do that. And the diversification we could use for the various sporting events.”
Another big factor, said Lasuita, was “the athletes’ care and comfort — being able to sleep in a village and eat in a village and keep it all in one centralized location.”
He also pointed to the “proximity of the venues to the athletes’ village and the amount of travelling that needs to be done and how we can alleviate some of that and how we can minimize it just so the athletes can experience what it is to be able to compete and also be able to socialize and make friends in the village.”
The athletes’ village is to be located at North Battleford Comprehensive High School. The plan is to install bunk beds in the classrooms during the week and the food service and cafeteria area will be used as well.
“It will certainly make for a hub of that week’s activity.”
Lasuita said the Battlefords can expect to be the centre of attention for the entire Games week.
“The one thing it does it certainly showcases your community,” he said.
“For that one week and prior to, all the media attention is going to be drawn to North Battleford. Our results come out of here, visitors come into town, so it’ll highlight what you have to offer and it’ll also display some of the amenities that you have that visitors can take care of, and just expose your community. It’ll be the centre of a multisport event for a full week.”
Bater paid tribute to the competing bid from Lloydminster, a city that had experience in hosting a number of major events in recent years.
“The fact that Lloydminster was bidding made us push a little harder because we knew they’d have a strong bid,” said Bater.
He pointed to North Battleford’s facilities, as well as their organizational capacity, as putting them over the top.
“It was also the proximity of those venues” that was another factor, referencing Table Mountain and Blue Mountain near the community.
Above all Bater said the community’s confidence that it could host the Games as a pivotal factor in its selection.
“It was our confidence. We knew we could do it, and so we didn’t blink, we didn’t think twice, we just did it.”
The last time North Battleford hosted a Games was 1984, when the city hosted the Saskatchewan Summer Games. They last hosted the Winter Games in 1974.
The next step, said Lasuita, will be the transition from a “bid committee” to an actual host organization as well as finding people over the coming two years who will take on the various responsibilities associated with the Games.
“Ultimately, the first goal is to appoint a chairperson or chairpersons to be able to lead that team and then engage the volunteers in the umbrella and organizational chart that we have. So that’s the next step … to be able to build that core group of volunteers to ensure that they can engage volunteers at the lower levels and carry on the planning process.”
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