SUNDRE — At least two dozen Polaris Slingshot enthusiasts are expected to swoop into town this weekend for the return of the annual Slingfest.
However, an organizer said there unfortunately will not be any international visitors making the trek from the U.S.
“We had hoped this was going to be like the big comeback of having all of those American riders come over, and it’s not to be this year,” said Shawna Brackley, who alongside husband Mark co-owns and operates Wagons West RV Park, which acts as a sort of host staging area for the annual event that originally started in 2017.
“There’s just too much uncertainty at the border,” said Brackley. “With possible restrictions and quarantining and gosh-knows-what, there’s just too much fear on the whole border-crossing thing.”
Even so, the organizers are amped to once again host the event for more local and regional riders, she said.
“We have 24 that pre-registered and then we always end up with more,” she said.
Riders are expected to begin slowly but surely arriving today -- Thursday, July 21 -- at their leisure.
“We didn’t schedule any events for Thursday because we want to just kind of let people trickle in as they see fit,” she said. “It’s just going to be pretty casual.”
Courtesy of grant funding from the municipality, organizers have lined up plans for a sort of scavenger hunt on Friday that will entice the riders to explore local businesses, she said.
“What we decided to do this year instead of touring kind of central Alberta, which we’ve always done before, we thought we would make the most of that Town of Sundre grant by keeping the riders in the town,” she said, adding the funding enabled organizers to for example purchase admission passes for the Sundre & District Museum.
Brackley told the Albertan she had also been going to some of the local businesses to purchase items that Slingfest participants would then be going on a tour around town to gather. There’s no specific itinerary for the day as organizers wanted to avoid having the group all piling out at the same time together and potentially overwhelming a business with a sudden surge of too many people all at once.
“We’re hoping that they spend the day just touring around town and finding all the little trinkets we’ve left for them,” she said.
On Saturday, the group will gather to hit the road for the poker rally to go on a tour of Sundre’s surrounding countryside to “highlight some of the unique things in the area that are super attractive for visitors,” she said.
“We’re tightening the circle this year,” she said about the planned route for the poker rally. “We’re going to stay closer to home and try and just have more of the focus here.”
Both Freson Brothers and Tim Hortons offered support by way of sponsoring some meals, and the riders will also be checking out some local restaurants for lunch, she said.
“We’re just focusing on highlighting businesses here in Sundre,” she said. “It’s a totally different focus than any other year. But we thought since we’re getting people who are more likely to return more often than just this annual event – people that we can get back into the community throughout the riding season – we thought we would focus on them.”
Expressing gratitude for the municipality’s contribution, Brackley said she and Mark were also motivated by other business owners to press ahead with planning this year’s Slingfest.
“We’ve been really inspired just by what’s going on between the Town of Sundre and the local businesses,” she said. “There really has been a focus on building business in Sundre, and we just wanted to contribute to that.”
She added that the municipality’s willingness to support these kinds of events shows the town is on the right track.
“All of the businesses that we’re visiting are benefiting from that,” she said. “All that (grant) money is going right back into those businesses.”
