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By Nicole Reis

Grandstand Committee

Grandstand Committee fundraising at a stand-still until city decides fate of Stampede Grounds

Dec 13, 2019 | 5:55 PM

The Meadow Lake Grandstand Committee is holding off fundraising efforts until the city confirms the fate of its old Stampede Grounds.

City council finalized its 2020 budget on Monday and approved $25,000 toward a study to settle whether a multi-use facility would best suit the city.

“There is a lot of desire to work on this next year,” acting city manager, Jessica Walters said at the meeting.

President of the committee, Dustin Gorst said his fundraising efforts are handcuffed until the city consults with a number of user groups in the city to determine what the best use for the site will be.

“We should have done this 10 years ago when it was ready to close down, we should have been ready to rock but that’s the reality of life and now were working towards rebuilding it,” Gorst told meadowlakeNOW.

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Gorst added the committee raised close to $75,000 for a new grandstand and the cost to build a new stand-alone grandstand is estimated at $600,000.

“I like the fact that the city is supporting everyone who wants to use [the track] still and that the long term goal is to have it there. Until we have a greenlight that it’s actually staying for years to come, we’re kind of handcuffed on how much we can raise. We don’t want to raise a pile of money and have nowhere to go,” Gorst said.

The grandstand committee members say they’re in rest mode until the city moves forward with the study but will decide on future events in January.

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722