It was a packed event with Football Night in Saskatchewan taking place at St. Mary’s in Yorkton. And I went, along with our Sports Director Benny Walchuk. What a fantastic time!
It started with cocktails at 5pm. It gives you an hour and a bit to mingle with friends, acquaintances, and some new faces. Of course I cannot say no to a Caesar, so I had one. I ended up getting to chat with a few people I’ve known over the course of the year, catching up on stuff and seeing what’s new with each other. There were a few other things you can do, like take a look and bid on the incredible lineup of silent auction items, get yourself some 50/50 tickets, and also enter in for raffle prizes. Benny and I ended up splitting for the 50/50 and raffles – sadly we did not win anything.
The program kicked off shortly with speeches from a multitude of people, talking all about what Football Night in Saskatchewan is all about: Yorkton Minor Football. As we are gearing up for football season, money raised at this event goes towards YMF so that kids are able to play football and participate in the sport they love. As the program continued, there was also a live auction, with signed Noah Zerr jerseys being auctioned off.
Then came dinner. It’s St. Mary’s so you know the food is always amazing. Ukrainian style buffet, where I obviously helped myself to some, including seconds. I will never refuse another plate!
After dinner and some more drinks, our guest speakers finally had their time to shine. The biggest star of the show was none other than Langenburg’s own Noah Zerr, who signed to the Saskatchewan Roughriders for this season after playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He told his story about how he got into his love for football, the behind the scenes of what it’s actually like working with the CFL; the ups and downs, how you can just get traded off easily, and how impactful an injury is to your career. He finished off by expressing how joyous he was for signing with his home province team.
Once Noah was finished with his speech, Don Chesney – former Yorkton Terriers coach had his speech. And while he mostly had a career in hockey, being a sports coach relates to all sports in general. His stories were incredibly charismatic and hilarious. Being someone who never grew up in the area, it was amazing to see just how well known Don is in the community. Benny was laughing at the stories Don was telling because he not only knew Don, but experienced the stories Don was telling in real life when it happened. It seemed like everyone knew him one way or another and I was glad to be able to hear him talk.
The night slowly wrapped up after Don’s speech where draws for the silent auction, 50/50, and raffles were being made. Since I didn’t win and the night was getting late, I decided to head out. It was an amazing night and I wanted to thank Roby Sharpe and Darcy Zaharia, as well as others for helping to put this event together. It was my second year in attendance and it was amazing!
Take a look at the full gallery below:
