The Yorkton Sno-Riders are celebrating an anniversary in 2015, and club president Jason Popowich appeared before the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday looking for some support.
“Since the mid 1990’s, the Yorkton Sno-Riders and the City of Yorkton have been working together to allow tourist snowmobilers to enter and leave our City on a designated trail to access food, fuel and lodging. This concept was the first of its kind in the province as the City recognized the need to welcome much needed tourism dollars into our City during typically slower economic times in the winter,” Popowich told Council.
“Today, these two trails still exist and have been highly successful. In the upcoming 2015 year, the Yorkton Sno-Riders will be celebrating 25 years as an organization.
“To celebrate this milestone, the Club is hosting the 2015 Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association Provincial Snowmobile Festival in Yorkton on Feb. 27 & 28. Many snowmobilers from across the province will travel to our City on their snowmobiles during this time.”
To help in the celebration Popowich was looking for temporary access to the city for snowmobiles.
“We ask for your permission to allow snowmobiles temporarily to travel up to St. Mary’s Cultural Centre, the host headquarters, for breakfast on Feb. 28, between the hours of 8:00 am to 10:00 am prior to the riders beginning their ride out of town for the day,” he explained.
“This trail would be signed and groomed by members of the Yorkton Sno-Riders, who would work strategically with the City of Yorkton Parks and Public Works Department to ensure that the trail is routed to the St. Mary’s Cultural Centre in the safest and most efficient manner possible so that visitors enter and leave our City without incident.”
In addition, the group was seeking a month designation to mark their anniversary.
“We also ask you to consider proclaiming the month of February 2015, as “Yorkton Sno-Rider Month” in the City of Yorkton to celebrate the success the club has had over the past 25 years,” said Popowich.
Council unanimously supported a motion to designate the month, as well as instructing Administration to work with the Sno-Riders to facilitate the requested special access.
Later in the meeting Council was also unanimous in supporting a Snowmobile Bylaw Amendment which facilitated access to the Days Inn.
“Meetings were recently held with representatives of the Yorkton Sno-Riders Club to discuss the Club’s Hosting of the Provincial Snowmobile Festival in February, 2015 and to review the Snowmobile Bylaw. In reviewing the trail routes map that forms a part of the Snowmobile Bylaw, it was noted that in order to provide access to all three of the new accommodations businesses in the City of Yorkton, an additional route would be required. Representatives from the Yorkton Sno-Riders Club, the City Detachment of the RCMP and the Public Works Department met at a site identified to be the lease intrusive to ensure that it was also safe for a highway crossing,” explained City Clerk Kathy Ritchie.
