With a motto of "We will not fail,"a group of Estevanites is forming a bid they hope will grant the Energy City the chance to host the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
With everyone on the committee assigned to their roles, the large committee is in the process of finalizing their bid for submission to the provincial Sask. Games council.
Committee co-chair Brian Senchuk said he and Brian Smith, his fellow co-chair have worked together before, especially with the local football program.
"We work very well together. We're just making sure everybody else is on schedule and helping out wherever we need to be,"said Senchuk.
He said in an interview earlier this month that the bid was about 75 per cent complete. They just need to complete the finishing touches and detail work prior to their submission prior to the Oct. 1 deadline.
"We have started to write the submission. Our goal is to have it completed roughly by the first week of September," he said."(That way) we're ahead of the game and it gives us time to double check and triple check."
With Senchuk and Smith as the committee co-chairs the rest of the board is rounded out by Greg Hoffort and Kevin Smith, city council reps; Nathan Jesse, city parks; Nathan Puffalt, secretary; Josh LeBlanc and Brian Smith, athletic services; Becky Conly, friend of the games; Joe Lingelbach, Nathan Puffalt and Lindsay Clark, sports venues; Leanne Boehm, medical services; Sheila Guenther, volunteers; Steve McLellan and Jeff Walters, information and technology; Art Beselt, logistics; Curtis Hack, food services; Brenda Lyons and Blair Ullrich, marketing and promotions; Michel Cyrenne, ceremonies and protocol; and Amber Andersen, cultural events. The games manager is to be filled at a later date, and administration and finance is vacant.
The whole group meets together once a month and there are several other meetings between the co-chairs and the different heads to keep everybody on track and working toward a common goal. They will continue to chip away at the task as they prepare for the final bid submission.
"We're very well on our way, and I have to give full credit to Brian Smith, because he has just been so organized and so motivated, and he has done a real good job for us," said Senchuk.
Once all bids are in, the members of the provincial Sask. Games committee will conduct a sit visit sometime in October to each hopeful city.
"We hope to tour them around the city, show them the different venues and meet our committee, and those who would be behind it and responsible to show them that if awarded, they would have the support of the community," said Senchuk.
The next big goal for the committee is getting the community on board with the Games. The committee will be getting the word across the city of what they want to do in order to host the Games in 2016 and are hoping the community will support the endeavour.
LeBlanc said their biggest concern is, of course, completing the bid. After that, their job will be to get the word out to rally community support.
"We want everyone to be aware that we're doing this and that we want it to happen. It's going to have a huge impact on our community," he said.
"We want to show them when they do come for a site visit that it's a community thing. It's not a few people working to bring something that's not supported," added Senchuk.
LeBlanc, who shares the athletic services committee role with Smith, said the Estevan Comprehensive School will be used as the headquarters and main campus for the Games. Athletes will be housed in makeshift dormitories, meals will be provided there as well as entertainment, medical services and competition results.
"Right now everyone's just working on their separate portion of the bid," said LeBlanc. "Then we'll group together and combine it. It's just a matter of getting everything ready, formalized and put on paper."
Senchuk said the committee has the right mix of people to produce a successful bid.
"It's a diverse group. They're all people who are doers," said Senchuk of his fellow committee members. "They're doing a bang-up job. It's just a matter of putting it all together. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to come forward and work with.
"I think that our submission will be first class. We put a lot of work into it. We're proud of it. When we host the Games we're going to be proud to do it."
"If you look at the impact on the economy that it's going to have, and then you look at the impact on the facilities and the community as a whole - I look back at what we did when we were competing to be Riderville - this is something that I put to that," said LeBlanc. "This is a major event. It gives us the opportunity to showcase our city and what we really are."
