With less than two weeks to go until the opening ceremonies take place at the Civic Centre, everything is going according to plan at the 2018 Saskatchewan Winter Games head office at the Don Ross Centre.
“There’s still a lot of pieces that are left to put in place but with the volunteer orientation coming up and various committees following through with the plans that they set out a year ago, everything’s pretty much on point with the dates that we set out to get everything done,” games manager Nicole Clow said.
“Having done this a couple of times, everything is dependant on timelines and it ends up being pushed back until the last few weeks sometimes as we wait for each of the eight regions to finalize their teams. Now that we know that athletes that are coming to the Battlefords, we know what we have to do now when it comes to feeding everyone and finding places for everyone to stay, which is the big rush that we’ve been preparing for over the last two weeks.”
One of the most important aspects of the games is making sure there are enough volunteers for the events and making sure everyone is at their assigned venues during the course of the week.
“We’re still accepting volunteers and people can go on the Winter Games website to do that,” Clow said. “Right now, the biggest thing that we need to have happen is to have those who have already signed up to take part as a volunteer to go on the website and schedule themselves for what they were able to do.
“We’ll be having our volunteer orientations at the Don Ross Centre on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., along with another session on Monday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. where we will be assigning schedules. After those days, we can go back into the system and find current volunteers to fill in the gaps or bring in the new people that apply over the next few days.”
Tickets passes are already on sale for the games, with organizers teaming up with the Battlefords North Stars for those want to make online purchases.
“That’s very important for us to have people from throughout the province purchase tickets, especially for those families that are coming from out of town to see their loved ones compete,” Clow said.
“For those that are in the Battlefords that want to purchase their tickets another way, they can go to the Co-Op Pharmacy to purchase event passes and they are also welcome to contact the North Stars office at the Civic Centre.”
The unofficial kick-off to the Winter Games will be held on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m. with a torch parade going from the Civic Centre to City Hall.
“This is the first time we’ve had this with the Winter Games and we’re really excited about it as it will involve students from 15 schools in the Battlefords, their families and the spectators along the route,” Clow said.
“It’s a great opportunity for them and it will also help to get some of the excitement going before everything starts on Sunday night.”
The torch will then leave City Hall on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. before it makes its way to the opening ceremonies at the Civic Centre an hour later.
The competitions will officially begin on Monday, Feb. 19 with biathlon, gymnastics, judo, men’s curling, men’s hockey, skiing, speed skating, synchronized swimming, target shooting and weightlifting events taking place throughout the day.
Those disciplines will take place through Wednesday, Feb. 21, with badminton, bowling, cross country skiing, figure skating, snowboarding, table tennis, women’s curling, women’s hockey and wrestling events running from Thursday, Feb. 22 to Saturday, Feb. 24.
The closing ceremonies will be held at the Civic Centre on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m.
