Lacombe Athletic Park Continues To Score Big

Central Alberta Buccaneers in action
at MEGlobal Athletic Park

2013 was a banner year for the Lacombe Athletic Park Association (LAPA).

The group, which operates and oversees events at MEGlobal Athletic Park, held its Annual General Meeting last night. They shared many of the facility's highlights from the past 12 months and set the stage for more exciting things to come.

If you're not familiar with the facility, check out this video from their new and improved website (It's a great video despite my cameo lol)

Among the event highlights from last year…

• A number of improvements to the park were made including new sidewalks, landscaping, fencing and storage, new soccer nets, and improved access to the adjacent grass practice field
• Two midget football teams called MEGlobal Athletic Park home for their 2013 seasons
• In May, the park hosted a regional high school soccer tournament for the first time
• The U of C Dinos hosted another successful camp for minor football players in June
• The Central Alberta Buccaneers of the Alberta Football League used the park as their home for a second year
• Central Alberta Field Lacrosse started up two teams that called MEGlobal Athletic Park “home”
• “Football Day in Lacombe” in September was highlighted by generous donations from Richard Pioneer ($50,000), Lacombe Rotary Club ($15,000) and another $25,000 from the Gord Bamford Foundation, boosting their total donations to the park to $75,000
• In November, the park was the setting as Lacombe residents gathered to set the new world record for the largest human Christmas tree

As you can see, the dream of having MEGlobal Athletic Park become a true multi-sport facility is coming to fruition. While football remains the most actively played sport at the facility, other sports such as soccer and lacrosse are also now using the park on a regular basis.

Financially, the park is doing quite fine according to the numbers shared by outgoing LAPA Board Chair Darren Gagnon.

The park generated nearly $176,000 in revenue over expenses for the year ending November 30. Combined with assets carried over from 2012, LAPA reported net assets of nearly a quarter million dollars.

That’s great news it shows the facility is on solid financial ground as LAPA officials continue fundraising efforts for the final phase of construction, the installation of a running track. The eight lane rubberized track is tagged at a cost of $1.2-million.

LAPA wants to replace the grass
surrounding their turf with a running track

Those fundraising efforts will receive a huge boost when the association hosts its annual fundraising gala on March 8th. Always a popular event, the gala raised over $30,000 for the park last year and hopes are even higher this time around. Gagnon says that once again the gala will have a number of well-known sports celebrity including Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos and NHL alumni. High profile current CFL players, who have attended the event previously, including Henry Burris and Jon Cornish, are also possible to attend again this year. In addition, the large and impressive variety of live and silent auction items at the event appeal to both sports fans and non-sports fans. The LAPA fundraising gala takes place on March 8th at the Lacombe Memorial Centre. I’ll have more details in the next little while. Feel free to call or e-mail me if you’d like to learn more.