The City of Quesnel, the CRD and the Nazko First Nation plan to host a World Cup viewing event at the West Fraser Centre.
The game is between Canada and Switzerland on June 24th.
Jeff Norburn, the Director of Community Services, went over some of the details at Tuesday night’s North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee meeting.
“The proposed event is a free family-friendly community celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The game kickoff time is noon that will include a large screen viewing of the match, youth soccer activities, indigenous cultural programming and local food vendors. The Quesnel Youth Soccer Association will be an active participant and will assist in the promotion of the event. Activities will be held both in the West Fraser Centre and in the plaza outside. The event will provide a strong focus on public safety, cultural safety and reconciliation.”
The event is contingent on getting provincial funding.
To that end, the Committee voted unanimously to support a request for 34 thousand dollars to the 2026 Community Events Support Fund.
It also agreed to help fund the event.
“The total event budget is $40,000 with the provincial grant covering 85% of the cost which is $34,000. A local contribution of 15% or 6,000 is a requirement of the grant. Nazko First Nation has agreed to contribute 50% of the local funding required and has requested that the remaining $3,000 come from the City and CRD through the North Cariboo Recreation and Parks budget.”
Norburn added that some of the City and CRD cost will be offset.
“The event budget includes West Fraser facility rental costs of approximately 15-hundred dollars which will help offset a portion of the North Cariboo Recreation contribution toward the event. The West Fraser Centre concession will also be open during the event which is expected to generate some additional revenue.”
The vote was unanimous.
City Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg said “I think this is a really great opportunity for a community building exercise more than anything, and the fact that we know we have an incredible soccer community, there are a lot of people who play soccer, who love soccer, and I’m impressed that Nazko has taken the proverbial bull by the horns to try and get something going on.”
