When it comes to volunteers, the city of Red Deer and nearby communities are second to none.
If you need help with some big event, put the word out and you generally get a flood of responses.
Over the next few years this community could be hosting two major events and the need for volunteers will be at a premium.
The bid for the Canada Winter Games is likely to be accepted.
Sorry Lethbridge but you just don’t have enough to compete with our City on this level.
We have the benefit of people running the show who are Yoda-like when it comes to planning and executing such events.
This ain’t their first rodeo.
Next on the list of major competitions is the recent announcement of an application to host the 2016 Memorial Cup tournament and we are up against Vancouver in this one.
Yeah, they have a good resume for hosting events, like that Olympic thing a few years ago, but we have those volunteers again.
That is the ace in the hole for this community when things need to get done.
Look back at the Brier, Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Skate Canada, the 1995 World Junior Hockey tournament right in our Enmax Centrium and you can see this City is no slouch when it comes to putting on a show – a really big show.
The major events potentially coming our way are far beyond a chance to showcase the City and its facilities.
They reach past the legacy left behind in the form of new or upgraded buildings.
The economic dollars generated by these events is something else with an estimated $15 to $25 million for the Memorial Cup and of course several million left behind after the Canada Winter Games have left town.
Those are some very good reasons for applying to host events of this nature but when it all comes down to it, it’s the volunteers who will carry the bulk of this load to a successful conclusion.
So the call will go out shortly for help if all goes well with the Memorial Cup bid, and another wave of helping hands will be needed for 2019 when the Winter Games roll into town.
Can the region handle this heavy load?
Just try us and see what happens.
sports@reddeerexpress.com
