Saskatchewan Senior Fitness Association

By Charlene Tebbutt

Seniors' Fitness

UPDATED:City to host 2020 seniors’ games

Apr 16, 2019 | 8:10 AM

Following several successful large-scale events in recent years, the city is set to bring yet another community event to Prince Albert in 2020.

It will host the Saskatchewan Senior Fitness Association 55+ Provincial Games July 7 to 9, 2020. The Games act as a qualifier for the 2020 Canada 55+ Games in BC the following month.

The 2020 event will bring an estimated 600 participants to Prince Albert, plus family members, volunteers and spectators. The seniors’ sporting gathering features a range of sports, such as five-pin bowling, cribbage, golf, curling, pickleball, slo-pitch, shuffleboard and swimming. The city is budgeting between $100,000 and $125,000 for the event, and will utilize existing local facilities, a report to council said.

Jody Boulet, the city’s community services director, said the event will help showcase the local community. The city is in the early stages of planning for the event, and will soon be putting out a request for people to join the planning committee, followed by a call for volunteers.

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“I think it’s a good opportunity, provincially and locally, for us to engage the seniors’ population in some activities that focus a lot around sport and recreation,” Boulet said.

Boulet explained the city would work with those in the hotel and restaurant industry as the games get closer. With the event planned for the first week of July 2020, Boulet said there are also opportunities to promote attractions around Prince Albert, such as Waskesiu and the lake land.

“I think we’ll be able to retain people beyond just the games event itself and I think that spinoff will see other holidays planned around it,” he added.

The city had previously applied to host the games in 2016, but was not successful. The last edition of the Games were in Moose Jaw in 2018 where almost 700 participants were involved according to Margaret Gailing the president of the Saskatchewan Senior Fitness Association.

” We do things in an Olympics style,” she told paNOW. ” We have a walk-in parade , opening and closing ceremonies and a banquet. It’s a social, and people come back.”

Gailing said she was looking forward to working with Prince Albert on next year’s event and figured many people would want to enjoy the variety of facilities the city has. She said pickleball was one of the “huge” sports that had really taken off in recent years, but participants were also very dedicated to track and field and slo-pitch.

“I’m the games advisor so I’ll be coming up in the early summer for orientation and to help the volunteer committee with hosting manuals, past experiences and any ongoing advice they need.”

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charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt