The Battlefords' chances of winning the Where is Riderville? contest went down the drain Saturday.
Five finalists in the Saskatchewan Roughriders contest as part of the club's 100th anniversary celebrations were announced on the weekend. The communities were announced at halftime of the game between the Riders and the Edmonton Eskimos.
The five finalists are Unity, Avonlea, Nipawin, Yorkton and Weyburn.
The Battlefords' elimination was the final disappointing exclamation point to what was hoped to have been a stirring weekend for Rider Pride in the Battlefords.
The Riders' 100th anniversary was to have been the theme of the Battleford parade Friday night, but heavy rain and lightning washed out Battleford's plans to showcase the area's support of the Riders one final time before finalists were announced. A decision on rescheduling the parade was to be made at Battleford town council Monday.
Saturday, whatever hopes the Battlefords had of remaining in contention in the Riderville contest were washed out at halftime in Regina.
For the Battlefords, victory in the contest was not meant to be despite an intensive campaign by area businesses and fans, including a June pep rally at Territorial Mall.
The competition proved to be steep, as the Where Is Riderville? contest was a big hit in numerous communities across the province. The club even received entries from cities in Alberta and even the United States that wanted to prove that they, too, were Riderville.
The only good news to come of the announcement from a regional perspective was the selection of a Northwest community as one of the five finalists. Unity's entry was helped, in part, by efforts to paint an entire intersection in the community green.
Fans will now be able to vote for any of the five remaining finalists to win the Riderville title at the Riderville.com website, with a winner declared on the Labour Day weekend.
