After a six month closure, the Grande Prairie Legion will reopen to its members and the public this weekend. It will be hosting a Meat Draw and Chase the Ace on Friday, but officials say some aspects of the branch will be very different from pre-COVID-19 times.
Manager Courtney Robson says, on top of some heavy-duty cleaning procedures, there will be a hard limit of 46 guests and four staff members allowed inside at any time. She adds they have upped their sanitization measures.
“We ended up purchasing a sprayer so we can make sure that everything is top of the line disinfected; even our fabric chairs are going to be done after every event here.”
Robson adds, despite many legions across the country having financial issues, their biggest current challenge is getting enough volunteers to be able to have the four staff members needed in the building at every event. She says there is still a call out for bartenders, floor servers, peeople to make sure everyone is social distancing properly, and someone in the lobby to make sure questions are being asked and temperatures are being checked. She adds that will likely remain the biggest hurdle for some time.
“I think we might be okay, as long as we can keep our volunteers in place. Right now we are in the middle of our renovations in the kitchen – that’s almost done – so if we can get someone in there running the kitchen and that would be less costly for us.”
Anyone who wishes to lend a hand and volunteer at the legion is urged to reach out to them via social media or by calling 780-532-3110.