Weyburn Tourism Counting River Park Sparkles a Success; Looking Ahead to 2020

The first ever River Park Sparkles tour being counted a success by Weyburn Tourism. With all 26 camp sites at River Park decorated with brightly-lit holiday and winter-themes, the attraction brought many visitors to Weyburn to take in the free, family-friendly vista.

"From what people are telling me and from the stories that I've been hearing, many people came in from out of town in order to enjoy what River Park Sparkles provided in terms of family entertainment for the holiday season, and that's exactly what Weyburn Tourism wants to accomplish, so we were very pleased with the result," said Twila Walkeden with Weyburn Tourism.

While the displays came down over this past weekend, Walkeden said there was a learning curve for their first annual event. Since the walking and driving tours had to be kept separate due to safety concerns for pedestrians, she said they'll be fine-tuning the event for next time.

"We had to make the decision partway through December, to modify how people viewed it," she explained. "So there's an inner circle and an outer circle, and those that were in vehicles were asked to travel through the outer circle, just so we didn't have any pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the same area."

She said the decision was for safety reasons, as safety is the number one concern.

"So what we're going to do is we're going to sit down with representatives from the City of Weyburn, evaluate our successes and some of our challenges," she shared.

She noted Weyburn Tourism is looking ahead to 2020.

"We feel that 2020 is just going to be bigger and better than ever, and we hope that everybody stays tuned," Walkeden expressed.

She said this year holds a number of exciting events on the calendar.

"Our Concert Series is one of the big highlights, we've got some very talented performers, including our own Tenille Arts, that brings her own style and talent, so we're looking to all those things," she said. Read more HERE. 

She said some of the biggest draws to Weyburn are things not often thought of as 'tourist attractions'.

"All the hockey tournaments, and the dance competitions and things like that, that bring people to Weyburn, fill our hotels, fill our restaurants, and just keep people coming to Weyburn and recognizing that Weyburn is a beautiful City and they should come back again," Walkeden noted.

As for the rest of this winter, even though the festive lights have left River Park, there are plenty of things to do for free here in Weyburn.

"I think even the skating rink that the City has put up in a vacant lot downtown. That's an amazing opportunity for people just to borrow some skates, or find some skates at home and just get out and get some fresh air, and I think the City has done a fantastic job of making that available," she commented.

Weyburn's many free outdoor rinks include the one Walkeden mentioned at the corner of Souris Avenue and Second Street in downtown Weyburn, one on the Souris River adjacent to River Park by Confederation Drive where children and parents are often seen sledding down the hill, one near the park on Gordon Miles place, and a new one in Riverwood.

The City of Weyburn's original outdoor rink at Jubilee Park is temporarily unavailable due to the construction ongoing for the Weyburn Recreation and Cultural Centre and Legacy Park Elementary School. Free indoor skating is, however, an option every Sunday from 2:45 to 4:45 p.m. at the Tom Zandee Sports Arena.