For the first time, Saskatchewan in motion brought the Community Chase to the Energy City. Estevan was the sixth community to participate in the physical literacy event.
With the help from the Estevan Public Library, the Regina-based organization put the chase together to get citizens active on Friday. Eight teams gathered at the Estevan Exhibition Grounds, and the chase began.
“We are hosting in motion Community Chase. These are new events for us,” said Julia Frigault, the community action specialist with Saskatchewan in motion.
The events were also held in Weyburn and Whitewood in southeast Saskatchewan and in Rosetown, Unity and Biggar in west-central Saskatchewan. The idea behind the in motion Community Chase is to highlight the spaces that already exist in towns and cities across Saskatchewan and to make citizens go out, explore those spaces and get some physical activities in.
“We are trying to get families to get out and play and just be moving outside,” she said.
Frigault noted that communities had different approaches to the chase. Thus, Estevan, Weyburn and Whitewood preferred to focus on one particular area, while other places wanted the chase participants to walk around from one location to another to see more of the different areas.
In Estevan, the library helped the Saskatchewan in motion to set the time and location, to find volunteers and to spread the word. The same happened in Weyburn.
“The libraries have been really awesome partners.”
They also helped to attract quite a few people, including the summer reading program participants, and the general interest towards the activity in Estevan turned out to be quite high.
“This is a very good turnout, in our opinion,” said Frigault. “(But) genuinely, it’s not so much about the numbers for this kind of event. It’s sparking an interest (towards) spaces that are available and we just want you to get outside and moving.”
The teams went through six stations, which offered various physical activities, including different games and even stretching. Teams could take their time at the stations, and after they were done at each stop, they received a stamp in their passports. When they went through all the stations, teams could still have some more active time with a couple of extra games set up at the grounds.
The original idea of the Community Chase was born out of the common effort of the Saskatchewan in motion members.
“It was … a bit of a love child we came up with as an organization. We really wanted it to find a unique core style, almost scavenger hunt-like event that really encouraged families to get outside.”
The event isn’t meant just for the summer, and Saskatchewan in motion is hoping that their next wave of visits will take place in winter.
“We’ll be getting people outside playing these fun games. And these games are, too, meant to be age-friendly. And even if they end up being more on the challenging side our volunteers know they can modify it for them.”
This is the first year Saskatchewan in motion is putting up these events and there are a lot of learning edges, modifications and improvements that happen along the way. The time will show whether or not it will become an annual thing.
However, Frigault pointed out that Saskatchewan in motion is a non-profit organization, and even if they won’t have an opportunity to come out again, they encourage communities to go ahead, organize similar events and just keep moving.
“They can use this format and just have fun with it and get families going out once in a while,” said Frigault. “It’s the matter of if the communities themselves want to continue, maybe then they can do it on their own and we can just be more of a supporting role for it.”
She explained that any community organization can take a lead and put up an event like that. And if it grows bigger, then probably a partnership with the city could be a good option.
Frigault said the Saskatchewan in motion’s website, www.saskatchewaninmotion.ca, is a great tool and source of information and inspiration to help the communities to keep staying active.
Saskatchewan in motion is also planning to send out an evaluation survey to the participants to find how they can improve the event for the future.
Community Chase is just one facet of the Saskatchewan in motion.
“Our wheelhouse is working with communities to develop action. So whether that is going from everything from just knowledge, understanding, awareness of physical activity and what is available to you already in your community and knowing what it is, people still need to learn… And up until high-level policies, (for example) working with communities to improve snow removal policies so that they can be active in winter,” explained Frigault.
