Okotoks' Hockeyville bid is in rare company. Defying the odds in a field of over 3,000 nominees from coast-to-coast Okotoks was announced as a top-10 finalist for the Kraft Hockeyville 2016 contest on Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.
Okotoks' Hockeyville bid is in rare company.
Defying the odds in a field of over 3,000 nominees from coast-to-coast Okotoks was announced as a top-10 finalist for the Kraft Hockeyville 2016 contest on Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.
“We were extremely optimistic,” said Okotoks Hockeyville committee co-chair Connie Drake. “We all thought we had a pretty good chance because we worked so hard and we saw the community come together in an unbelievable way. I don't think I've ever seen Okotoks rally like that, families and friends getting on board and supporting us.”
All 10 finalists have earned $25,000 towards arena upgrades. The winning Hockeyville community earns $100,000 towards and the rare opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game. Okotoks' winning bid would be put towards the twinning of Pason Centennial Arena.
The top-10 announcement was made by Hockey Night in Canada host George Stroumboulopoulos to the delight of the boisterous supporters at a viewing party fittingly at the home of the Oilers on Saturday night.
“There was so much anticipation,” Drake said. “As soon as we saw Okotoks the whole room erupted it was really quite an incredible experience … just pure elation.
“The most incredible moment was looking over at Bearcat (hall of fame trainer Jim “Bearcat' Murray) and he had tears in his eyes.”
There were more than a few shedding tears of joy on Saturday.
For Deana Halifax, who launched the nomination process for Okotoks in early January, it's been a non-stop grind for two months to get to this point.
“Just getting to where we are is amazing. I really did not think it would go this far, but I'm so happy it's blown up and we're in the Top-10,” Halifax said. “When we're trying to do this campaign everyone has gotten behind us 100 per cent. The businesses, the people have just rallied behind us to get us where we need to be.
“I think they will support us right until the end.”
Of course, the Okotoks bid didn't happen overnight.
Hundreds of hours were put in by the organizing committee and its numerous volunteers who were a fixture at nearly every community event in town over the past eight weeks, not to mention at schools and in businesses throughout Big Rock Country.
“We haven't stopped since day one,” Halifax said. “I know myself I haven't gone to bed before 1 o'clock since it's started. We have a fabulous committee and everyone is doing their part.”
The constant stream of events, from its Winter Carnival to its weekly Jersey Friday initiative, along with an aggressive social media and word of mouth campaign helped the town to stand out from the nearly 3,200 entries in the competition across the country.
“We really hit the streets and talked to as many people as we could and that engagement really helped us in our cause,” Drake said. “Mostly it was the events, that carnival was unreal. We planned that in two weeks and the response was fantastic.”
Voting for the top-10 communities opens on March 13 at 7 a.m. and runs until 9:59 p.m. (local time) on March 14 at khv2016.ca.
Organizers will be out canvassing businesses and venues all weekend to set up voting stations.
“We are going to have people at every single location throughout Okotoks so that anybody going into a business can vote right then and there,” Halifax said. “We're going to be giving out flyers so after they vote, they can go home and they have the information right there and can continue to vote.”
Any legal resident 13 or older is eligible to vote and each individual may vote as many times as possible.
“If everyone is able to get a couple votes in there and we rally all of southern Alberta to help us I think we stand a really good chance,” Drake said. “We're a great province and now more than ever is a time that this is going to be really good for Alberta.
“We need something good happening and this is just the start.”
The top-two vote getters from the West and East will make the final round of voting and are guaranteed the $100,000 prize towards arena upgrades. The winning community also earns the right to host the NHL exhibition game.
For more information on the Okotoks bid go to facebook.com/OkotoksHockeyville2016
