Neck guard sales jump after Sask. hockey player slashed by skate
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Optimist Hill is open for business in Diefenbaker Park.
The nearly $3-million winter attraction opened to crowd of people lining the hill for a chance to tube, ski or snowboard down.
Rob Letts and Joe Van’t Hof co-chair the Optimist Hill Campaign and had trouble wiping the smile off their faces after seeing six years of planning and hard work come to life on Sunday.
“At the end of the day, the dream came true,” Letts said outside the new temporary chalet at the bottom of the hill.
“If you have a dream and you have a vision, you don’t give up on it.”
Optimist Hill Campaign co-chairs Rob Letts and Joe Van’t Hof (centre) cut a ribbon to officially open Optimist Hill on Feb. 10, 2019. (Keenan Sorokan/650 CKOM)
Phase one of the park includes ski and snowboard runs, and a tubing area. The terrain park is scheduled to open next week, and the free tobogganing section of the park is under construction and will open for next winter.
While the area opened without reaching it’s $2.9-million fundraising goal, Optimist Hill will be under construction for at least another 18 to 24 months.
That construction received a boost Sunday when Charlie Locke, owner of Lake Louise Ski Resort, announced he would donate an extra $100,000 to the campaign during a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the hill.
“Those kinds of gifts, those kinds of surprises are the best surprises,” Van’t Hof said of the sudden announcement. “It’s absolutely gratifying.”
Anthony Thoen has been a vocal supporter of the hill since he joined the campaign and thinks this could change the way a lot of children in the area spend their winters.
“We’ve always said that Saskatoon is a winter city, but when I think of winter, I think of skiing and snowboarding,” Thoen said. “To finally have a snowboard and ski hill in the city, I see this as a beacon of winter activity.”