As the Alberta Winter Games get closer, Grande Prairie continues to brace for impact as the city gets ready to welcome more than 2,000 athletes and coaches in February.
According to Games Manager Lisa Kerkhof, around 1,900 athletes are set to compete this year. She adds that several athletes will enjoy a home-team advantage, as the event boasts around 200 competitors who call the Peace Country home.
“Not every sport has had its selection camps yet so that’s coming but yes Peace Country we’re definitely going to be well represented.”
Kerkhof says the games coming to the city is significant as it is the first major sporting event Grande Prairie has hosted in nearly six years. She says the games benefit athletes, coaches, spectators, and the city alike.
“It’s so exciting for those athletes to be able to showcase their talent on a provincial scale, to make connections outside of just Grande Prairie with the rest of Alberta.”
“It’s a great economic driver for the community,” she says. “Tourism is a huge driver, we’ve got about 3000 hotel rooms in the city and we expect to sell those out within the city as well as the county, [and] we’ll have things like restaurants and grocery stores seeing that impact with people spending money in their establishments.”
Additionally, Kerkhof says the games present a unique volunteering opportunity for community members. She says the games need “around 1500” to run efficiently, and around 600 people have committed so far.
“For the community it’s just a great way for us to connect together from a volunteering perspective, just really coming together to make something of this magnitude happen in the community.”
According to officials, the event is set to feature 2,400 athletes and coaches, 250 technical officials, 200 “invited guests,” and between three and four thousand spectators.