In no way was this intentional, but did High Prairie town council ever find themselves backed into a corner at its July 14 meeting!
Council was dealing with a request from organizers of the highly-successful 4th annual Sucker Creek Indian Relay Races, scheduled for Sept. 12-13 in High Prairie.
After losing the Treaty 8 First Nations Cup Hockey Tournament years ago, it is imperative High Prairie keep successful events from leaving. Council recognizes this and began debate. As Councillor Bryce Shunter said, it was in council’s best interest to support the event.
As an interested fly on the wall, I heard a request was made for $5,000 and $10,000. How much to give?
Mayor Dan Vandermeulen then asked a very important and pertinent question and one which potentially saved council copious quantities of grief.
“What did we give to the Elks?” Vandermeulen asked, referring to support for the High Prairie Elks Pro Rodeo July 28-29.
The answer: $1,000 cash not including in-kind services also provided.
Council was backed into a corner and quickly realized it. There was no way in the world they could offer Sucker Creek more money than they offered the Elks, even if they wanted to. Did the desire exist? We will never know.
Imagine the public outcry if Sucker Creek was offered more money than the Elks. It was the stark reality facing council.
Some citizens may favour increasing the Elks portion, some favour Sucker Creek. Both are terrific events worthy of support.
Council settled on a $1,000 donation – the same as the Elks – provided they get some promotional signage.
Council’s decision was certainly not wrong given the circumstances in 2026 but they can deal with it more appropriately moving forward. My proposal: increase the Elks and Sucker Creek’s portion to $5,000 and waive the rent for the arenas for the High Prairie Gun and Sportsman Show. This would all occur in 2027.
My reasoning? These are clearly the three biggest events in town each year and a $10,000 commitment and waiving of facility fees is a very small price to pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars generated in economic activity.
However, the opportunity was available to council to increase the funding this year. There was a $25,179.88 carryover from 2025 in the Community Grants – 2025 not spent. This year, council added another $30,000 to make the total $55,179.88.
If council wanted to increase the Elks portion to $5,000 (it was already approved for $1,000) there was plenty of room to do so. The remaining balance already showed a $10,000 donation to Sucker Creek. Adjusting that to $5,000 for each would still leave $30,349.88 this year! Plenty of money left in the kitty, so to speak.
But council did not suggest that option.
Council should do what it can to support these “Big 3” events. Quick action needs to be taken as soon as possible to provide the commitment suggested to ensure a more profitable outcome for the organizations involved.
Chris Clegg