Lloydminster will be hosting the 2020 Saskatchewan Summer Games and the city is already starting the process of preparations by naming a chair.
The city announced last week that Kevin Kusch will be the chair of the summer games. He has previously been involved with the games in 1997 and 2008 as a coordinator. Kusch says that the city is in the first phase of planning.
“Right now were looking at doing some of the legal pieces in terms of becoming incorporated with the province that will allow us to start gathering donations, as well as grants in order to start building those pieces that we need for the games.”
The next steps for the city involve putting together a group of directors that Kusch says is already in place. These directors will do the majority of hands on work in preparing for the games and the last thing will be setting a game schedule.
In terms of infrastructure Kusch says that the city already has facilities that will work to host various events, but there will be some tweaks that have to be made.
The city is looking to benefit greatly from the economic impact of tourism that the games provide. The most recent Saskatchewan Summer Games took place in Estevan in 2016, which generated nearly $8 million from visitor spending.
Kusch says that part of the preparations is making sure the business community is ready for the influx of people in the border city.
“People who will need places to stay, places to eat, things that they want to see about Lloydminster and learn about Lloydminster.”
The games are tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2020 and will involve 2,000 athletes, coaches and managers in 14 sports.