As they paced the floor and raptly stared at the TSN broadcast on their televisions, members of Estevan's football programs soon found that their cause, their effort, will be on display in the same space for others to see.
Wednesday's announcement that Estevan had won the Kraft Celebration Tour ended two months of planning, promotion and perhaps praying on behalf of the committee responsible for the city's bid.
Wanda Harron, Brenda Lyons, Val Paulson, Steve McLellan, Marco Ricci and Brian Senchuk were among the key players in bringing Estevan a celebration it won't soon forget.
"Steve's YouTube video was very good. Val and Brenda were awesome at getting posters made up. Marco and Brian, through word of mouth, were excellent," said Harron.
"I really just want to thank the whole surrounding community - businesses that put up our posters, businesses that let their employees vote on company time."
Neighbouring communities and other grassroots football organizations also took up the cause.
"I can't put it into words," said McLellan. "We had people making T-shirts, handing out flyers, on Facebook running wild getting everyone to vote for us. Everyone involved deserves a huge congrats."
Their kids were all the motivation the volunteers needed before flooding hit the region and became the front and centre story.
"It was very nice for me because my son was watching at home and he called me right away. It was nice to hear it from my son, who I was doing it for," said Lyons of how she got the good news.
"We're crazy about our kids. (A football program) was something our kids wanted and there was a big hole in the community. I was surprised when I moved here that we didn't have football. I know it's going to last. We're leaving a legacy."
Paulson sees it similarly, saying she has made lasting friendships through her sons' involvement in football.
"It's why we love the game. I have one kid in high school, one in minor football, one's graduated high school and you see the connections they make with the coaches. My son played high school and minor and now he's a coach.
"It's nice to see because it affects the kids as much as it does the parents. It just brings everybody a bit closer."
Ricci noted that it wasn't all about football, either.
"There were people not involved in football who committed a lot of time in making sure the votes went through," he said, adding that support from the Regina media helped the cause.
"What I've learned is that if this community wants something, it's going to be hard to stop it."
Aside from the money to repair facilities, Estevan's dual football programs will benefit enormously from the exposure that comes with being featured on national TV.
"That's the most exciting part. We've already had people saying, 'Oh, football's still a go?'" Paulson said.
"A lot of people thought it was going to be cancelled. We had a lot of speculation about the damage to the field and how do you recover from that? We'll be fine. We've made it through the last three-and-a-half years and we'll keep going."
For Lyons, the celebration on Aug. 25 will be as much about flood victims as football.
"Football is a game and this is real life. We're just happy we can end the summer with something really fun for everyone. It'll be nice to highlight the town in a positive way instead of flooding or drug deals."
