Hay River has announced how it intends to use the $100,000 prize the town received for winning the national Participaction active communities challenge.
The town of roughly 3,000 people spent the month of June trying to stay ahead of 49 other finalists across the country, eventually earning the title of “Canada’s most active community” for 2024.
On Saturday, hundreds of residents – many dressed in the purple of Diamond Jenness Secondary School – gathered at the Hay River Community Centre to celebrate that achievement.
At the event, Mayor Kandis Jameson said she was “very proud” of residents for their commitment.
Jameson thanked the town’s recreation department for facilitating so many activities in a short span of time.
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While 20 percent of the total prize money will enhance the town’s sports and recreation programming, Jameson said most of the cash will go toward the Inukshuk Park Revitalization Project.
That project’s first phase includes adding multi-sport summer equipment for the likes of pickleball and basketball, while replacing the Ray Benoit rink’s boards and resurfacing the asphalt beneath.
The existing boards are “in disrepair and pose a safety risk,” town documents stated earlier this year, while the asphalt pad is “in very poor condition.”
Communities minister and Hay River South MLA Vince McKay attended Saturday’s celebration. He told residents the victory shows the town’s resilience as it recovers from the past few years of evacuations caused by wildfires and floods.
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“I want to thank everyone involved for their dedication to the health and wellbeing of our community. I am proud to recognize this achievement in my home community,” McKay said.
Residents spent the afternoon participating in free “try it” sessions for different activities. In the evening, the town held a VIP cocktail night where Courtney Fraser and Jordan Froese, who coordinated Hay River’s entry into this year’s Participaction challenge, were presented with an award.
More than 1,200 communities had taken part in the challenge according to Jon Malton, director of partnerships at Participaction. Of those, 50 communities were finalists based on the number of physical activities they organized and the hours locals spent in those programs.
A committee then decides which community is the most active in each province or territory, bringing the pool down to 13. That is followed by a re-evaluation of those communities to select one winner.
“It literally takes a full community to get on board and involve themselves in this program. And Hay River, this isn’t the first year they’ve been competitive in this challenge,” Malton told Cabin Radio.
“They’ve won the territorial prize in 2021 and 2023. This year, they just stepped up even more.”
Malton said more than 40 different organizations contributed to the town’s win, hosting almost 200 programs and sessions in June.
Hay River is the first northern community to win the challenge nationally.
Past national winners include Enderby in British Columbia, North Grenville in Ontario, Red Deer in Alberta and Salisbury in New Brunswick.
