Organizers are gearing up for the big day as the Lakeland Region prepares to host the 2026 Alberta Winter Games in February.
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Organizers are gearing up for the big day as the Lakeland Region prepares to host the 2026 Alberta Winter Games in February.
Violet Lapointe, games manager for the 2026 Lakeland Region Alberta Winter Games, presented to the Town of Bonnyville council on Dec. 9, providing an update on all things winter games.
The games are set to run from Feb. 13 to 16 in the M.D. of Bonnyville, the Town of Bonnyville, Cold Lake and the Village of Glendon.
There will be a large influx of visitors and competitors in the region.
“There’s over 2,400 athletes coming and they will be housed in athletes’ villages, which are the schools in our region,” said Lapointe. “So, all school districts and just about every school is being utilized for this.
“We’re expecting an influx of 5,000 to 6,000 visitors for an event of this size.”
Lapointe said they don’t often see events of this magnitude, and since the 2010 games, which were held in Bonnyville and Cold Lake, there’s more infrastructure and versatility in hosting the Winter Games.
Sports showcased throughout the event will include alpine skiing, archery, artistic gymnastics, badminton, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, fencing, figure skating, freestyle skating, hockey, judo, ringette, speed skating, artistic swimming, volleyball and wrestling.
Host venues will range from small to large and have seen some changes since the original planning.
“Since our original planning, we had a couple of venue changes. The big one was biathlon; we had to move it to a little bit more accessible of a location at the Bonnyville Golf and Country Club,” said Lapointe.
According to Lapointe, opening ceremonies will be livestreamed and feature a virtual torch relay, followed by the lighting of the cauldron.
“The opening ceremonies will be hosted at the Imperial (Oil) Place Energy Centre (in Cold Lake),” she said, noting there will be more than 5,000 people in attendance for what she describes as an exciting event.
In terms of the overall budget for the Winter Games, Lapointe says they’re still on target.
“An event of this size is running at the just over $2-million mark, so far, we’re on target,” she said.
Staying on budget has seen some difficulties as they’ve worked hard to remain local.
“One of the things we were very firm on is we wanted to remain local,” said Lapointe. “When we look at food vendors, instead of hiring production companies out of the city, anything like that, we chose to break it down and organize it differently so we could manage that. Having the food centres doing their breakfasts and dinners in each area; we are also catering the lunches to their venues.”
She says keeping it local ensures the local mom- and-pop caterers have an opportunity to contribute and benefit from the event.
There are a number of unknowns organizers are still grappling with, including a grant award being pushed back to January 2026. They’re still looking to secure additional sponsorships, total costs of sports facilities and equipment, along with funds awarded from casinos.
“We have finally, as of this week, seen some funds come in from our fundraising casinos,” said Lapointe.
While admission is still an unknown ahead of the event, she says historically, stands are full.
“Historically, admissions have been pretty good. The stands have been packed and they do sell well, but it’s always a risk you take,” she said.
Items they’re still looking for include portable facility trailers, shelving for warehouses, generators, light plants and heaters, outdoor tents, portable radios, portable washrooms, scaffolding for platforms at the ski hill and electronics equipment.
“Scaffolding for platforms at the ski hill, that was one of our large gifts in kind. We do have a tentative sponsor for that,” said Lapointe. “Because the ski hill isn’t originally designed for freestyle, there does have to be special platforms erected for the judges.”
There have been some roadblocks in planning the event, including the need for physician roles and the ever-present need for volunteers.
“The primary lead roles, so, some of our levels that are below directors and chairs, we need some committee chair levels filled. We’re definitely struggling there, but we’re having more and more people sign up every day,” she said.
Co-ordinating with the school districts has been a bump in the road as the teachers’ strike set planning back.
“The school districts, I think we all feel a little bit of struggles since the teachers’ strike. That has kind of set back some of our planning and a little bit of our co-ordination. That’s something we’re trying to work through with the school districts and the administration in the schools,” said Lapointe, before thanking the town for all the help they’ve been able to offer and the use of the facilities.
Two community engagement events are scheduled, including an ATCO community barbecue on Jan. 15, 2026, and a volunteer rally in Bonnyville on Jan. 22, 2026.
A key focus for the Winter Games organizers is still getting volunteers.
“We definitely need more. We’re currently sitting at about a third of our target,” said Lapointe. “One of our areas we’re currently involved in that’s working really well is targeting groups. Whether it’s corporate business or teams and clubs.
“We’re starting to see people sign up. We’ve had that in the works for a while, but now that we’re closer to it, people can look at work schedules and pencil in when that works for their team.”
People looking to volunteer can sign up at 2026awg.com and click volunteer.
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