In an unexpected turn of events, Niverville’s town council recently declined the opportunity to play host to the next Manitoba Winter Games, which are to be held in 2026.
This decision comes exactly one year after the 2022 Winter Games would have taken place in Niverville, had they not been cancelled for pandemic-related reasons.
In consolation, Niverville was given first right of refusal for the 2026 Games.
“When we were discussing whether or not to do this, it’s one of those things where you think that it would be so great for Niverville,” says Councillor Meghan Beasant. “But if you look at all the factors that need to come together perfectly for Niverville to look impressive, for me, it just looked more like we might come off looking poor for not being [adequately] organized.”
For Beasant and the rest of council, it wasn’t for lack of trying. First and foremost, concerns quickly developed this year over finding the needed committee heads and the many volunteers who would be willing to give their time to an event of this magnitude.
Five years prior, when council accepted the challenge of hosting the 2022 Winter Games, two residents had stepped forward, willing to act as chairpersons for a planning committee.
Today, those same people have moved on to other endeavours and were unwilling to make the same commitment.
According to council, other candidates were approached, without success.
But council believes that several developments over the subsequent years have reduced the pool of volunteers available for an event as demanding as the Games.
One of these is the arrival of an MJHL team in Niverville.
“We have tremendous volunteers in this community,” says Mayor Myron Dyck. “Between our Niverville fair and now the Nighthawks, it’s fantastic to see. But we’re hearing from their boards, who are cognizant of not burning out their volunteers. And now we want to do another significant event? There’s a lot of people that would normally step up, but now they’re saying, ‘I’m maxed.’”
Logistically, council also needed buy-in from the Hanover School Division (HSD) for the use of buses and the local schools for athlete transport and accommodation, as well as volunteers from the teaching staff and high school student body.
“We had a very good relationship with Randy Dueck, former superintendent of the Hanover School Division,” Mayor Dyck says. “The relationship with the current superintendent is still in its infancy.”
The current superintendent, Shelley Amos, was appointed to replace Dueck in 2020.
In fairness, Dyck adds, in order to comfortably accommodate council’s requests, HSD would have needed to consider bumping back their spring break by approximately three weeks in 2026, moving it from the last week of March to early March, the time during which the Games are typically held.
Synchronizing these two events would have freed up much-needed buses, school space, and student volunteers.
According to Niverville CAO Eric King, HSD determined in the end that, since many of their teachers live outside the division and are themselves parents, they appreciate having a spring break that coincides with that of the schools their children attend.
So instead of one school division being asked to make a switch, King suggests that it might be time for the province to mandate a Manitoba-wide shift so that school spring break events always coincide with the Manitoba Winter Games week.
“Why [is the province] not changing it if we’re pulling from every school division for kids to participate in [the Winter Games]?” King queries. “Why are [students expected] to miss a week worth of school for this event?”
Now, without the Games to plan for in three years’ time, Dyck says that council will be open to considering a variety of other popular events that are always looking for host communities.
“Once we are a little more established, it will allow us to focus on other… events that would put Niverville on the map,” says Dyck, referring to the establishment of the much-anticipated hotel which is soon to begin construction in Niverville.
As well, it means that Niverville won’t need to raise $650,000 in funds to host one single event, which is the going cost for a community to run one week of the Manitoba Winter Games.
At the end of the day, Dyck feels confident that they’ve made the right decision.
“If we can’t do 100 percent, we don’t want to do 50,” says Dyck. “We don’t want to go halfway.”
