ESTEVAN - The legacy project for the 2022 Centennial Cup national junior A hockey championship is now in place and has been used for the first time.
The new score clock was installed earlier this month. Panels were used for the graphics for the Rotary Club of Estevan’s annual Lobsterfest fundraiser on June 23.
City treasurer Trudy Firth delivered a report on the cost of the clock to council for the June 26 meeting.
“The Centennial Cup committee wanted to use the profit from hosting this tournament to go towards a new score clock for Affinity Place. This was their chosen legacy project,” she wrote in a correspondence.
The total cost was $401,239.68, but Firth said the cost to the city will only be $15,750.14, as the event profit was $234,418.20, the food and beverage profit from the tournament was $81,071.34, and Kingston Midstream’s Richardson Foundation provided $70,000.
“The net cost to the city of $15,750.14 resulted in the acquisition of a valuable capital asset,” said Firth. “Hosting of this Centennial Cup provided a huge economic spinoff for the city as a whole and was overall a great success.”
Coun. Lindsay Clark asked about the status of the previous score clock, which had been part of Affinity Place since the events centre opened in 2011. If a buyer can’t be found, then he suggested putting it in the annual auction for the city’s used equipment, which draws interest from outside the province.
“If somebody wants it, we have to get it sold,” said Clark.
Mayor Roy Ludwig replied that the city was initially told that there should be a taker for the old score clock, but that hasn’t happened yet.
An old scoreboard that they sold at a recent auction had been in storage for years.
Coun. Kirsten Walliser, who asked for the report, thanked Firth for the document. Walliser heard a lot of questions about how much money the city made on food and beverage at the tournament.
“To be able to show that a profit was made, but it was directly put back into Affinity Place, is wonderful for the community to see, but also important,” she said.
Now that the fall season is a few months away, Walliser said community groups need to realize the new score clock is not a small, simple piece of technology.
“The reason the city has processes and procedures around the clock is the taxpayers made a considerable investment in bringing the clock here for years to come,” said Walliser.
Coun. Travis Frank said people were excited to see the clock in use at Lobsterfest, and he thought it looked amazing.
“It’s going to be a great asset, and it’s nice to see that Affinity Place will continue to be maintained and updated,” said Frank.
