Still revelling in the good news delivered last week, those whose work helped make Red Deer’s 2019 Canada Winter Games bid a success are preparing for the next steps in organizing the event.
Less than five years out, there is much work ahead, said Lyn Radford, bid committee chair.
“We will be meeting with the Canada Games Council to get a short overview of the transition process they recommend,” said Radford. “Myself and Shelly Gagnon (Red Deer Parks, Recreation and Culture Department manager) will sit down with city manager Craig Curtis and Mayor Tara Veer and go over that and develop a transition team that will take us through the steps of forming a society.
“It’s a long ways before we start talking about any kind of detail.”
The transition team will be given a mandate of what needs to happen, including setting bylaws for the games society and determining skill sets needed on the board. The board has to be put together by the end of December.
The earliest glimpse of what the board can expect comes in February, when the members will travel to Prince George, B.C., to attend the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
“That will be the first chance to see the magnitude and get us shaking in our boots,” said Radford.
After that, a CEO of the winter games society will need to be hired.
The process of finding board members should start later this fall.
And the major call for volunteers for the organization of the games will come in late spring of next year.
Radford predicted that once they get the organizing apparatus in order, the hiring of staff, which could reach more than 100 people, will be steady leading up to the games.
Red Deer won its bid to host the 2019 Canada Winter Games a week ago, beating out Lethbridge. The bid was announced in Calgary on Thursday before a large contingent of people behind Red Deer’s successful bid.
Radford said they will continue to update the Red Deer is Ready Facebook page to keep people in the loop about how the organizing process is progressing.
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com