Last week, the Yukon government announced smaller, less prominent sports associations are getting some big bucks from the Tier 2 Community Development Fund.
Of the $812,985 provided for community projects, $243,166 went to sports organizations in the territory to create shelter for equipment, stable horses and give broomball spectators a better view of the action.
“Money allocated to these projects represents government of Yukon’s commitment to achieving a better quality of life by building healthy, safe communities with skilled and adaptable people,” said Economic Development Minister Jim Kenyon in a media release. “Yukoners will benefit from a number of sport and recreational infrastructure projects and have opportunities to network with local and international professionals to assist and advance the needs of special groups.”
Supplying 159 hours of employment for nine workers, the Yukon Broomball Association received $72,000 from the fund for repairs and upgrades to its arena in Takhini. Benefitting players and spectators, $52,000 of the allotted funds went to replacing the chainlink barrier above the boards with tempered glass, identical to glass found in hockey rinks.
“That had been in for 10 years and needed repair, so we decided to apply for funding to replace it with tempered glass,” said Yukon Broomball vice president Scott Smith. “It’s in place now and looks gorgeous. That was the major portion of the funds.”
The remaining money went to relocation the arena’s power source, improving the lighting system and repair and maintenance to the fabric structure, much of which has already been completed.
“It’s really looking good,” said Smith.
Hitting the target with their application, Biathlon Yukon received $72,040 from the fund to build a permanent storage and maintenance building at the Biathlon Shooting Range to house the organization’s snowmobiles, used to groom the ski trails at the site near Grey Mountain.
“We have two old machines and we bought a new one, and we’ve had difficulty starting them, so we determined we needed a warm facility to store them - the same as the ski club has,” said Biathlon Yukon executive Bill Curtis.
For the Yukon Horse & Rider Association, penning the application will lead to the penning of horses.
The association received $24,126 to help purchase 100 panels used to construct temporary stalls, pens and riding areas, which will used during horse shows.
“They are panels to a pen and they click together like Lego,” said Yukon Horse & Rider Association spokesperson Anne Lewis. “It’s a mobile stall or a mobile riding arena, depending on how many you click together.”
The association is considering the acquisition of these panels as part of Phase 1 of a long-term plan of relocating the association’s showgrounds.
“There has been a plan since the Whistle Bend subdivision went into planning that there would be a move,” said Lewis. “We’d be moving to what was the Porter Creek sewage lagoon. That’s still in negotiations and we’re not planning to do that for another two years, so we’d have two more years on the current site.”
Some money will also be put towards repairs and expansion of the “show shack” that house announcers, along with a new PA system.
The Dawson Ski Association received $75,000 to construct a facility at the Moose Mountain Ski Hill, for storage and to house maintenance equipment, to be used by various community groups. The construction will produce 1,820 hours of employment for 22 people. Representatives from Dawson Ski Association were unavailable for comment.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com