Legion Hall likely to be lost

A familiar building on Broadway Street in the city faces a very uncertain future.

The Alexander Ross branch of the Royal Canadian Legion is in financial difficulty, and the hall has become a money pit of operational dollars, upkeep, and desperately needed upgrades.

“The last couple of years we’ve kind of been working in the hole,” Barry Whitehead, first vice-president of the local branch told Yorkton This Week. “We’re having a hard time keeping up with the bills.”

As a result the Legion is actually behind on some of its utility bills.

The situation prompted the Provincial Command of the Legion to visit recently to discuss the situation.

“They recommended we sell the building and downsize,” said Whitehead.

Sept. 14, the local branch is holding a special meeting to discuss the prospect of selling the Legion, but Whitehead admitted outside of a major benefactor stepping forward they will be selling the hall.

“We’ll go someplace,” he said, adding “we’ll probably operate out of here until it’s sold.

While day-to-day operations are in arrears, it is the needs of the building moving forward which necessitate the sale, said Whitehead.

“It’s probably half a million for repairs,” he said, citing the need for a new boiler, lights, water heater and most importantly a new roof. “It’s on and on.”

As a result of the red ink, downsizing is under way. Gunner’s Lounge is closed, and with it several groups are out a place to hold their activities, a Saturday afternoon crib group, the city’s only steel-tip dart club, pool group and a spot on the soft-tip dart club tour around the city.

Friday Night Beef on a Bun is done.

And while the Legion is still willing to rent hall space, they can’t offer food services, nor guarantee the building will even be standing within a few months.

Whitehead said without an injection of cash, or a large influx of new volunteers dedicated to saving the hall, the meeting on the 14th may be little more than a formality.

“We just have no choice. We would like to stay here, so the 14th is a very special general meeting,” he said.

Whitehead is not anticipating a last ditch effort to maintain the hall, and expects when the property sells, it is likely the building will be demolished, the location valued more highly than it is in its current condition.

But the Alexander Ross branch will not disappear with the hall. Whitehead said they will be looking for space in another building in the city, to host meetings, run the Legion’s Remembrance Day Poppy Campaign etc.