With five weeks left to complete the bid submission, John McIsaac and a group of Bow Valley residents are scrambling to see the Alberta Winter Games return to the region in 2014.
“There’s been lots of progress,” said McIsaac. “We’ve put together a group of eight local people, both from Banff and Canmore, to put the bid together.
“There’s quite a bit of work to do, so we meet once a week and then go and do various aspects of what it takes. We’re optimistic, we’ve got a good core group of people working faithfully at it and we’re excited.”
Banff hosted the games in 1976, but has yet to host the event a second time. The games are held every two years, with the next event to take place in the tri-region of Spruce Grove, Parkland County and Stony Plain in 2012.
“We’re going out to the community service groups and sport groups – part of the bid is that we get the community to actually want this,” said McIsaac. “We’re going around to the business community and asking them what they think about it.”
Primarily aimed at youth, the event would attract about 3,200 athletes, coaches and other participants in early February and would involve 24 different sports.
“What we need to do now is capture the imagination of the people and get behind this like they got behind the ’88 Olympics,” said McIsaac. “That’s what we need, the energy of the people, to let their council know that this is something that’s going to be really good.”
As with all competition, however, there are other regions in the running for the event.
The Strathmore Standard says that town will bid for the games. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo also intends to bid, according to a council report.
According to the Okotoks Western Wheel, the town of Black Diamond was invited to bid for the games, as was Grande Prairie, says that city’s daily newspaper, but both have declined.
Still, McIsaac is confident the bid will be successful.
“I don’t see any really daunting issue that we can’t overcome,” he said. “We have all of the infrastructure – it’s fantastic that the multiplex is going ahead, because we can inventory that and use it.
“One of our challenges is to find a location for a temporary long-track speed skating ice surface and we’re looking at sites that would be suitable.”
According to Alberta Winter Games bid instructions, communities require between 2,000 and 3,000 volunteers to put on the event.
“If it was easy, everyone would do it,” said McIsaac. “We know there’s going to be challenges. I don’t think getting volunteers is going to be one of them.
“You’d be amazed at how many people would step forward and want to be involved. It happened 36 years ago and it’s certainly time for it to happen again.”
If the bid is successful, the games will coincide with another sporting event, the winter Olympic Games, to be held that year in Sochi, Russia.
“We have our closing ceremony when they have their opening – we’re on the shirttails of one another,” said McIsaac. “The energy that’s going to be around sport activity and competition is going to be quite high, so we want to capitalize on that as well.”
The important thing at this point, stressed McIsaac, is to get the community behind the project and to hear what the community has to say about it.
“We’re looking forward to showing off our communities, but it’d be really great to hear from the public and get them talking about it, because that’s the driving force – that’s what this is all about. It’s about people.”
