OLDS — Are people making full use of Olds’ sports fields? The Town of Olds' Community Services director wasn’t sure when asked that question during a recent council meeting.
The matter came up during council’s July 14 meeting as Lapointe presented the Community Services second quarter report.
“Do you have any comment on usage there,” Coun. Darren Wilson asked. “Are those things full to the brim, five days a week, seven days a week, and attracting the benefits of sport tourism? Just wondering, are we seeing some of those benefits, either with horseshoes or soccer or baseball?
Guy Lapointe said he didn’t have “hard numbers” at the time but said he could provide them in a future report to council.
“Revenue-wise, I'd say that we've actually seen a little bit of a dip, which was a surprise to me. But again, there have been some cancellations due to weather, from what I understand,” Lapointe said.
“We did open it up to outside communities. Probably about four weeks ago, we actually made a concerted effort (to promote them) across Alberta, and we got some interest there, so we may see a little bit of a chunk there as well.”
The amount of time staff have spent grooming sports fields fell by 19 per cent in the second quarter this year, compared to the same quarter last year. Specifically, staff spent 16 per cent of their time maintaining the fields, down from 35 per cent during the second quarter of 2024.
“What we did not anticipate was the drop in sports fields, which I understand is related to the quality of the fields improving year over year at this point, along with some efficiencies that they found (maintaining) those sports fields as well,” Lapointe said.
He said much of that time has been reallocated to work on shrubs and trees, weed whipping as well as equipment repair and maintenance.
“There are several tasks that are only now getting some attention,” he said. “Things like proactive planning, weed removal and flower maintenance.”
