ASSINIBOIA - One of the busiest people at Town of Assiniboia on a typical day just may be Steph VanDeSype, Recreation and Community Wellness Manager. Her team has hosted, and lined up, a summer full of fun.
Canada Day activities are not far way. VanDeSype said “Assiniboia is such a wonderful community that loves to come together to celebrate, Canada Day is the perfect reason to gather. We have a huge day of events planned; this is going to be our best one yet.”
July 1 activities kick off with a free pancake breakfast put on by Â鶹´«Ã½AVland Co-op, located in their food store parking lot. While the parade is still accepting entries, it will line up on the old rink parking lot and head north on Centre Street. Following the parade, the park will be full of food, fun and fellowship opportunities for young and old alike that will include live music and activities and opportunity to socialize in the beverage gardens. Free swimming will be all day at the pool and the day is capped off with the always popular fireworks. See last week’s Times story on the Town’s recreation Facebook page for a complete lineup of events and activities.
“This event is brought to the community by the Town of Assiniboia, all of our Aquatic Centre staff, summer day camp staff, and council will be helping to make the day a huge success.
Community members gathered for a tail gate part at the Â鶹´«Ã½AVland Co-op Centre on May 31 to show their support for the Moose Jaw Warriors who were playing in the Memorial Cup semi final. The team’s storybook season began in Assiniboia with a pre-season game, which added to their large fan following from the town.
“This was the perfect way to gather as a community and cheer on our favorite WHL team in the Memorial Cup semi-final game. We fed approximately 50 people, and watched half of the game until mother nature put a stop to it. We moved the party inside to watch the remainder of the game, which unfortunately didn’t go our way. We look forward to hosting more tailgate parties including Rider games, Blue jay games, and more,” added VanDeSype.
The former Civic Centre ice pad remained after demolition for the community to enjoy. The space includes basketball nets, hockey nets, and skatepark equipment and Assiniboia’s Recreation and Wellness Manager says they love seeing youth enjoy the space utilizing the multi purpose pad.
The future plan is to develop this space with more recreational amenities.
July brings storm season to Saskatchewan, which will include the live show “Thunder Down Under ‘coming to Assiniboia.
VanDeSype said, “Thunder from Down Under ticket sales are going great. We are so close to a floor sell out, then we will open the seats for sale. These events are brought to town for many reasons, we use them as a fundraiser to help offset the costs of the Â鶹´«Ã½AVland Co-op Centre.“
“Our state-of-the-art facility is the perfect place to host large events, we receive raving reviews from the entertainers, as they are treated like royalty in our small town, and get to perform on a stage that feels like a big city. These events we bring to town also make a huge economic impact, we fill the hotels, restaurants, and the visitors always enjoy our variety of shopping opportunities.”
As far as the downtown revitalization project goes, VanDeSype says it is a work in progress and they will share more details as things get completed.
Assiniboia provides great opportunity for student employment, hired 25 staff for the summer to work at Aquatic Centre, Summer Day Camp and facilities staff. Students help maintain all of the parks, campground, ball diamonds and all other green spaces. VanDeSype acknowledges that this year’s rains have keep their mowers and weed whips busy and staff are doing an amazing job of keeping up and beautifying the town.
Pool staff offer a number of activities including lane swim, adult swim, parents and tots swim time, late night swims, school swimming, public swimming, aqua fitness classes and more.
