North Battleford may have closed the book on one big event, but another big one is coming.
The 2018 Saskatchewan Winter Games is the major event on the horizon for next year. Winter Games co-chairs Rob Rongve and David Schell appeared before council Monday and had news to share on some of the ongoing preparations for that major event.
Among those was news that a Winter Games manager has been hired. Nicole Clow was introduced at Monday’s meeting. Clow has considerable experience including running the Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan, and she was also involved in the winter games in Prince Albert. Clow was hired in November.
There have been some adjustments to the committee structure with a number of volunteers and co-chairs stepping up. Rongve noted Councillor Kevin Steinborn and Jerry Wintonyk have agreed to head up the logistics committee while Councillor Kent Lindgren, who agreed to volunteer before being elected to council, is working with the volunteer division and is in charge of training the hundreds of volunteers.
Getting the Games off the ground has been a gargantuan effort already.
“We knew it would be a lot of work, but I think we underestimated exactly how much it was to kind of get the ball rolling,” Rongve said.
Now the work has begun, and with Clow now on board as manager, it is “definitely going a lot better,” he said.
A games slogan has been chosen — “Celebrate Winter’s Best.”
Rongve explained they wanted to keep it simple with a slogan that is a nod both to the “best venues” as well as the “best athletes.” It is also a nod to the host committee’s commitment to making the games “the best ever.”
The mission statement for the host committee is “to host a successful Winter Games that celebrates athletic excellence through culture, competition and community.”
These Games will make history on a couple of fronts. Rongve confirmd it is the first-ever Saskatchewan Winter Games to host para-sports. Para-nordic will be one of the events.
The 2018 Games will also be the first Saskatchewan Winter Games to host snowboard cross and ski cross at Table Mountain.
Both Rongve and Schell are continuing to seek volunteers and sought council’s help in seeking out potential volunteers.
They are also going to be starting a financial campaign. Rongve estimates the budget will be in excess of $1 million and anticipates the benefit to the community will be $5 million.
They are also looking into putting together a donor wall that could permanently recognize donors to the games effort, with Rongve suggesting it could possibly be installed at the CUplex. But plans are preliminary and the committee is seeking council’s input into where this recognition wall could go.
