The countdown has begun towards the Battlefords Best Business Showcase event to be held Thursday to Saturday at the NationsWEST Field House.
Battlefords Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Linda Machniak ran down the plans for the long-anticipated event at the Chamber's directors' meeting Tuesday. The event is designed to highlight the best of business in the Battlefords.
Thursday will feature Matt Dominguez as the VIP luncheon keynote speaker at their kickoff event at noon at the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts. The former football star with the Saskatchewan Roughriders is now broker of record with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
Activities then shift to the field house for the next three days. The first day of the show runs from 1 to 8 p.m. The stage schedule is highlighted by RiderGirl, Colleen Sutton, at 5 p.m. RiderGirl is making a personal appearance at the show in advance of her performance at the Dekker Centre on Nov. 16.
Hours for Friday will see the show run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Highlighting the main stage is Richard Brown, with 30 years experience as a TV anchor and radio personality in North America, at 6 p.m. Designer Sunil Ramchandani of Jockey P2P will appear at 8 p.m.
Ramchandani will appear again at 11 a.m. Saturday and will be followed that day by Chris Emery and Larry Finnson, food entrepreneurs who had appeared on Dragon's Den. Their product, OMG's Candy, will be available at the show. Saturday's schedule runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Running on the main stage for all three days will be Dr. Booze (James Romanow) of Saskatoon, known for his weekly wine columns in the StarPhoenix and Leader Post.
His appearances will be Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m.
Preparations for the event continue to proceed. A total of 19,800 copies of their guide to the event have been sent out to homes throughout the Battlefords and area in the past week.
As well, the Chamber has been busy with last-minute items such as signage, distributing passes for those with booths at the event, as well as ordering in all the "booze" for the Dr. Booze presentation. Machniak said they had to order only two of the liquors from elsewhere. The rest were all obtained at the local liquor store.
At the board meeting, director Warren Williams added that he had called SaskTel that morning to arrange to put in some facilities to provide an additional boost for those at the event seeking Internet access.
Most of the booths have been sold for the event, but Machniak told the board there were 15 booths still left to sell.
