ROCANVILLE — Rocanville’s biggest fundraiser is about to kick into high gear once again. The Rocanville Lucky Lottery supports local recreation groups and facilities in Rocanville, and organizers are trying a slightly different sales tactic this year to sell off the 2,500 grand prize tickets.
“We’ve adopted a bit of a different practice this year, we’re not pushing as hard upfront,” said Lucky Lottery chair Kirby Fowler. “We realize we’re putting in a lot of effort for a few sales, so really the big push starts here probably in the next week or so.”
What organizers have noticed over the years is that most of their ticket sales are in the last week of the campaign.
“Instead of spending three months busting our butts trying to drum up as many sales as we can, we’re kind of holding off,” Fowler said. “Everybody’s getting a little panicky because our sales aren’t where they were last year, but that’s by design.”
He says that board members have been selling tickets at local markets and pancake breakfasts around Rocanville.
“Any time there’s something going on in town, we have people out selling, and we’re about to kick off the canvassing of town here,” he said. “It is going good.”
A $100 ticket offers a chance at some big prizes.
“We’ve got the same $100,000 grand prize, there’s a few cash prizes, our Early Bird prizes,” Fowler listed. “Lots of donations this year from businesses, which is so nice to see. Lots of support locally, both in Moosomin and Rocanville; really good support from the businesses.”
The early bird draw is coming up on September 10 at 6 pm at the Nutrien Rocanville Community Hall. Up for that draw is a $500 gift certificate at Legacy Pharmacy, a Milwaukee 18V self-propelled mower (valued at $1,439), and a tailor-made Callaway driver ($650 value).
The $100,000 grand prize draw happens on September 26 at 9 pm at the hall. In addition, there’s a $100 per week for a year prize ($5,200 value), three $1,000 cash prizes, three $500 cash prizes, an e-bike ($3,199 value), a travel voucher from TravelOnly ($5,000 value), and an $850 meat package gift card from Moose Mountain Meats.
Then, there’s the 50/50 draw made the same night with a maximum prize payout of $60,000. A total of 7,198 tickets have been printed for the 50/50, with the current take-home total already close to $2,000.
Lotto helps many organizations
Last year, the Rocanville Lucky Lottery was able to distribute $50,000 to local groups. The Rocanville Skating Rink received $30,000; the Rocanville Soccer Club received $11,800; the Rocanville Outdoor Rink and the Rocanville Tiger Sharks Swim Team each received $2,500; the Rocanville Dance Club received $2,000; and the Rocanville Senior Centre received $1,200.
“Our facilities have really taken a jump in quality in the last few years,” Fowler said. “With our ball diamonds, the red shale this year, the soccer fields here, we got new nets for them. That was something that the lottery funded.”
Fowler noted how a large event for the soccer club drew quite a few people to Rocanville.
“They had a huge soccer tournament in town all the way from U7 to U18,” he said. “I believe there was over 700 people in town for that soccer tournament, so they got to utilize the nets that we supplied. And it’s really great to see that kind of stuff.”
The nets alone were a big surprise as to how expensive they were.
“Because the lottery helps out with some of that stuff to these groups, they’re able to keep their fees down, too,” Fowler said, adding that helping with some of those big-ticket items also allows fees to remain lower, making sports accessible to more residents.
Photos wanted
The Lucky Lottery board is also looking for photos of people enjoying local facilities.
“This is part of our promotional idea, so people can see what the money we raise goes towards,” Fowler explained. “We’ve had some really good pictures come in. I know Peyton Parker had put together a little montage of all the facilities, the kids that use them, and stuff going on in town.”
For people interested in sharing their photos, they can be sent via text to (306) 435-9342.
Finally, tickets are currently on sale with a few methods of securing them.
“You can go to the town office in Rocanville, and the rec office in town here and the Conexus Credit Union all have tickets,” Fowler said. “Our website’s (rocanvillelotto.ca) is up and running, and we’re getting some good sales there as well, plus any of the board members—we’ve all got tickets sitting at our house. So you can hit any one of us up and we can help you out.”
