The 2013 football season at Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) came and went without a new announcer's tower but the project is far from being scrapped.
In fact, it's well on its way to achieving its objective, if the project can find additional funding. The objective was to erect a new booth, in a 40 ft. steel sea can, at Glenn Hall Park, with new bleachers to accompany it.
"Of course, we wanted to get this done as quickly as possible but we realized that because this is on city property, there are more hoops to jump through," said Darrell Lessmeister, director of community and leisure services for the city.
"Also, because it's going to be occupied by people, we needed to pass a bunch of safety and building inspections. We have to make sure it's 100 per cent safe."
The project first came to light when the HCI Mohawks football team decided they wanted a new announcer's booth to replace the old, much smaller one at Glenn Hall Park, where the football team plays their home games.
The school, working in conjunction with the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) on the engineering aspect of the project, first presented a report to council back in May.
Submitting several different schematic figures on what the new booth would look like, the favourable option was to hire a company that modifies large shipping containers into custom-made configurations.
PAMI justified the initiative by citing a forseeable increase in sporting and other community events.
At the council meeting in May, a motion was carried to direct administration to work with HCI in furthering the project.
Although Lessmeister said at the time that the goal was to have the new announcer's booth up and running by the start of the present school year, it was delayed due to numerous approvals and inspections that would have to take place prior to its installation.
On top of that, HCI still needs to come up with funds for the project; the local Conexus Credit Union has generously donated $20,000 to the plan, which will cost approximately $44, 170 in total.
"They're going to be fundraising to ensure they can pay for this," Lessmeister said. "Who knows - they could rake in all the money pretty quickly through grants and large donations, or it could take much longer. It's hard to say."
In addition to an announcer's tower and larger bleachers, PAMI, who was asked by HCI to develop design options for the project, proposed additional criteria like a large concession stand and equipment storage facilities; the latter doesn't currently exist at the park.
Since May, a few amendments have been made by PAMI, through discussions with HCI and the City, on the proposed blueprint for the sea can announcer's tower.
The present figure, dubbed the "Conexus Community Tower", has been laid out in a concept report from October. A smaller 20 ft long sea can will be placed atop a longer 40 ft one and will serve as the announcer's booth; the bottom shipping container will be divided into both a concession stand and a storage facility.
There will be a set of stairs at the back of the structure, which will lead to the announcer's booth at the top; the bleachers will be in the front.
Although they're just plans and not formalized yet, HCI is hopeful they'll be able to raise the necessary funds to see this project play out in its entirety.
Because of that, Lessmeister said it's hard to say when the booth will be up and running.
"[HCI] is hopeful it'll be up by the start of the next football season, but it's tough to say right now," he said.
