Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
Why don’t the Alberta Summer (or winter, for that matter) Games ever happen in Slave Lake, High Prairie or Wabasca?
One reason could be a shortage of proper facilities. Or maybe because nobody has ever applied?
Somebody is applying now. The M.D. of Lesser Slave River is taking the lead, but it will be a joint project, also involving the Town of Slave Lake, Sawridge First Nation, Gift Lake Métis Settlement, Big Lakes County, Town of High Prairie, Slave Lake Region Tourism Society and the Alberta North Central Alliance (ANCA).
“MLA Scott Sinclair has offered to help as well,” says Chris Valaire, the M.D. of LSR’s Assistant CAO. He’s the M.D.’s point man on the project, and has been rounding up support from the other local governments.
Valaire says the group has to submit a letter of intent by the end of June; after that they’ve got two months to nail down the application. Among other things, it will have to contain a list of approved sport venues, as well as how 3,000 athletes and coaches are to be accommodated.
With the regional approach, Valaire says, events would be spread out among the participating communities, making it easier to handle. Golf, for example, could be at Eagle Point in Wabasca, which Valaire describes as “world class.”
Swimming pools wouldn’t be a problem; same goes for baseball facilities. But a proper running track? That’s “the biggest hurdle,” Valaire says.
What’s needed to qualify for the Games is an eight-lane, synthetic track. No such thing exists in the region. Building one would run around half a million dollars, Valaire says, and then launches into a fairly convincing argument about how it can happen, and why it should.
“It would qualify us to host all sorts of other events, such as the Seniors’ Games,” he says. “Why should Sherwood Park, Red Deer and Lethbridge get all the events?”
If the bid is accepted, it would trigger a $550,000 provincial grant, Valaire says, which would be divvied up among the members. Federal grants might be another possibility.
There’s a lot of work ahead, but Valaire is optimistic.
“We’ve got a lot of good people at the table,” he says. “Willing to roll up their sleeves.” They include Alex Pavcek and Joe Dixon of the Town of Slave Lake, Jennifer Churchill of ANCA, and Kim Hughes of the tourism society.
The first order of business is a ‘gap’ analysis, which is more or less what is sounds like – a study of what needs doing to reach the goal.
Besides getting that running track in place, one of the major challenges will be rounding up the volunteers necessary to pull off such a big event. They’ll probably number in the hundreds. But again, Valaire says the burden will be reduced by spreading the events out among several communities.