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“Flat Out” fun at Regina’s Grey Cup
by Ashley Martin
the Carillon
Even before the 91st Grey Cup’s opening ceremonies, football fans from all over Canada were celebrating the long-awaited championship.
After two years of planning, “Flat Out in Saskatchewan” festivities were officially kicked off the evening of November 12.
The success of Flat Out is no doubt due to the huge amount of work that volunteers put in.
“We wound up with a total of 3,397 volunteers,” says Darrell Baker, chair of the Grey Cup volunteer committee. “They gave their time freely—they wanted to, and they enjoyed themselves immensely.”
When signing up as a volunteer, there were a wide variety of jobs to choose from. There was need for security guards, valets, chauffeurs, bartenders, halftime dancers and administrative people. Medical professionals also volunteered their time and helped make “Flat Out” a success.
Regina was the hot spot of Canada during Grey Cup week, attracting a huge amount of people who didn’t necessarily come to watch the game.
“Some people come to Grey Cup and don’t ever go to the game,” says Randy Dove, the general manager of Grey Cup 2003 Inc. “They come for the festivities.”
An incredible 50,909 people attended the game, but the committees don’t know as of yet just how many people came from out of province for the festivities. An estimated 10,000 people came into Regina for the game. It’s impossible to tell how many people attended the Agridome’s Riderville and the Hospitality Tent on Scarth Street over the five-day course.
Over 20,000 people gathered the morning of Saturday, November 15 to watch the parade of eighty floats and 62 walking groups.
The majority of people that attended Grey Cup 2003 expressed positive feedback.
“We’ve heard lots of positive comments about the cabarets, the Hospitality Tent, Riderville. Lots of positive comments just about the way it was organized, the fact that they just seemed well-run,” Dove says.
“We’ve received absolute positive feedback,” Baker adds. “People came out and enjoyed the events. Whether you were on the drinking side of the party or the bartender on the serving side, both sides were having fun.”
However, there have been a few negative comments about the game.
“The sound was bad, the people didn’t like the location of the jumbotron in the north-east corner, and the fact that the half time show played only to the west grandstand,” Dove says.
These problems were the CFL’s concern, however, because the local organizing committee was solely responsible for the festivals.
Dove says that the complaints about the festivals themselves were quite isolated.
“We’ve heard that the lines were too long. There were complaints about the tent closing on Sunday night, the challenges getting a cab.”
Generally, “Flat Out” went off without a hitch.
“The whole community really took ownership and we’re all proud to be from Regina,” Baker says. “We put on a phenomenal Grey Cup.”
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