Humboldt residents: What are you doing three years from now? How about watching the Saskatchewan Summer Games right here on the grounds of the Uniplex?
Well, if Humboldt's bidding committee has their way, that could very well happen.
The next Saskatchewan Summer Games are in 2016 and currently Humboldt is up against other communities like Melfort, North Battleford, Weyburn, Estevan, Melville and Swift Current in a bidding war to play host city.
Events and conference manager Michael Ulriksen and community and leisure services director Darrell Lessmeister attended a bid preparation workshop on June 26 in Saskatoon, after putting in a request to receive a bid package earlier in the month.
"The workshop gave us requirements and let us know their expectations and the types of resources and facilities the host city is expected to have," Ulriksen said.
The informal bidding committee will meet at the next community and leisure services meeting on July 11 to discuss the workshop and the practicality of Humboldt being host city, before deciding if they'll make an official bid. The bid deadline is Oct.1.
October sounds far away but like Ulriksen said, it's not that much time for the city to measure their finances, facilities and resources, and come up with detailed reports on how Humboldt would operate as the location of the Games.
The official bid to be submitted is comprehensive and lengthy and the city will be expected to lay out, bit by bit, the exact way in which Humboldt would host the games. The Saskatchewan Games Council will evaluate all the bids and narrow it down to two contenders, where they will then visit those cities before choosing the host city in November.
Ulriksen's gut instinct says it "looks promising" for Humboldt.
"Based on what we have and the resources we need, it looks pretty good for us. Having a new facility like Humboldt Collegiate Institute attached to the Uniplex is a bonus too," he said.
If the committee chooses to go ahead with their bid after their July meeting, they'll spend the ensuing months working out kinks and planning what upgrades need to take place.
The Saskatchewan Summer Games are a week-long event that will be held at the end of July, 2016.
