With Grey Cup 2022 back in Saskatchewan and just six months away, the preparation for the “the biggest party in Canada” has begun.
Festival week will kick off in Saskatoon with a youth rally at Merlis Belsher Place on Nov. 15 and Grey Cup pancake breakfast on Nov. 16 at Prairieland Park.
“Nothing says Grey Cup like a pancake breakfast,” Craig Reynolds, Saskatchewan Roughriders president and CEO, said in a press conference.
The theme of the festival — “Bring it to the heartland” — was announced earlier this year and volunteers and staff are getting prepared for the major event.
“(The) event will celebrate young people making a difference in their local community and nurture compassion in young people by providing them with tools to make transformational social change,” Reynolds said.
Saskatchewan Roughriders announced the winning communities that will receive a $25,000 grant to support their community fundraising efforts for sport, recreation and culture initiatives.
The winners are: Village of Abbey, Town of Birch Hills, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council (11 member Nations), Town of Langham, Town of Marshall and Town of Whitewood.
Reynolds added that with the youth rally they want to attract the next generation of CFL and Riders fans. Having a targeted event with youth in Saskatoon and in northern communities is a way to expose them to the Grey Cup and Roughriders.
“I grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan and I know how much the riders mean to the entire province. And so, one of the things that we really were adamant on is that we were going to host events outside of Regina. So that’s meaningful when we have that basically essentially the kickoff event here here in Saskatoon. It’s a sign that it’s provincial in nature,” he said.
Reynolds said there’s tremendous energy around the preparation, “you don’t get to host all that often and there’s just generally a lot of excitement around it.”
He added that tickets are on sale and over 70 per cent have been sold.
“We haven’t even gone to single game tickets, so we believe it’s going to sell out very, very quickly,” he said.
“There’s a lot of energy around the team and whenever you host the Grey Cup, there’s that extra pressure, the extra motivation to be in that and I think our fans want to be there and support the team in the quest to do that.”