The Rossland Legion will celebrate Legion Week with a sports day.
The event begins at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 23 and up to 25 teams of four will match skills in a free event open to anyone over 19 years old.
“We’d like to invite community members to come and join us at the Legion for some sports, and a free dinner and some free entertainment,” explains Joanne Drystek, treasurer for the Rossland Legion.
Teams will compete against each other in horseshoes, bocce, pool, darts and shuffleboard, and there are prizes to be won.
“Each team is going to play each one of the sports and then we’ll have a points system and a time limit,” says Drystek.
The time limit will ensure that each team has a chance to play each sport.
The sports are expected to start at 4 p.m. and run until 8 p.m. A buffet dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and entertainment will begin around 8:30 or 9 p.m.
Though the event is free of charge, the Legion encourages participants to donate to the Toonies for Troops program, which supports our veterans.
“They don’t have to, but if they want to make a donation to that program, that would be great,” says Drystek.
Legion Week is a national event held the last week in June.
“It’s really to promote the Legion,” explains Drystek. “Typically everyone thinks of the Legion at Remembrance Day. So … they’ve done it to sort of get Legions to reach out to the community and let the community know they’re there, that they make a lot of donations to the various community [groups].”
The Rossland Legion has previously supported the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital, local Boy Scouts and Girls Guides and track and field.
The Legion raises funds through gaming, like 50-50 draws and Texas hold ‘em tournaments.
“All of the proceeds from that pretty well go into our donation fund, and then we’re looking to spend the donations within our local community as much as possible,” says Drystek.
Teams of four are asked to register for the event before Saturday, June 17. Registration can be done by emailing RCL14@telus.net or calling 250-362-5535. Please provide the names of all four team members. Only the first 25 teams will be accepted.
”We really want people to register the teams in advance, so that we know how much food, and even if people want to just come for dinner, if they would just either email us or leave a voicemail message so that we would know how much food to prepare,” says Drystek.