The Saskatchewan Sled Dog Championships featured plenty of loveable canines over the weekend. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Community Tradition

P.A. Winter Festival wraps up 58th year, plans already in the works for 2023

Feb 28, 2022 | 5:00 PM

As the Prince Albert Winter Festival comes to a close, the organizers would like to thank the community for another successful year.

President of the P.A. Winter Festival Bev Erickson told paNOW the two-week event did very well.

“It was great to see people out and enjoying themselves and to see a few friendly smiles now and then when they were sitting at their tables and be able to take their mask off,” Erickson said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, some of the events P.A. residents usually enjoy during the winter festival were either held virtually or cancelled outright. Erickson said having events for people to attend once again was welcomed.

“I think that everyone that was able to come to a live show really enjoyed the show. The producers did a phenomenal job of creating a welcoming environment. The artists that performed and the bands were exceptional. Prince Albert has more talent then a lot of places and it’s really great to see the community support that talent,” she explained.

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The final weekend featured some of the festivals biggest events including the Sask. Sled Dog Championship races, the king and queen trapper, the fish fry and the fireworks display. She said children being out of school and the weather cooperating a bit helped with people coming out.

“The dog sled rides were full all the time, the horse sleigh rides were always busy so it’s really nice that we’re able to offer those things to the community. The fireworks, although it was a shorter show than we would have liked, it was phenomenal and everyone really enjoyed it,” Erickson said adding the City of Prince Albert has also been a big help the past two weeks.

Plans are already in the works for next years festival and Erickson said they will have a strategic meeting in the next few weeks to go over what worked, didn’t work and what they may want to change. They are working on plans to potentially hold fundraisers for the festival later this year, including a slo-pitch tournament and a golf tournament, however no dates have been set.

“I just want to thank the community for their support, the sponsors, the businesses, the board members and most of all the volunteers,” Erickson explained. “We can’t do any of this kind of stuff without the board, the volunteers, and the community behind us. For 58 years the Prince Albert community has been very strong and I feel it’s going to get strong again. So if anyone’s looking for any kind of volunteer opportunity, give us a shout.”

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12