By Leslie Cholowsky, Editor
In its 2025, Flagstaff County Council established a Recreation Facilities Grant of $100,000, meant to assist the region’s major recreation facilities.
The grant could be applied to help with increased operational expenses, or used for repair and maintenance.
When the grant was created, Council intended the funds to target facilities serving a significant number of participants or spectators, which had a high impact on its community.
Flagstaff County opened up applications earlier in the year, with a deadline of May 31. The application process required information on participant/registrant numbers, number of days the facility is open, financial statements for the past three years, confirmation of non-for-profit status, and what the grant funding would be used for.
Thirteen regional organizations applied for the funding, including DaysArts, the Daysland Arena, Daysland Golf Club, Forestburg Ag. Society, Forestburg Arena Association, Forestburg Community Centre, Forestburg Curling Club, Forestburg Golf Club, Friends of Sedgewick Rec Centre, Heisler Ag Society, Lougheed Ag Society, the Strome Community Curling Club, and the Town of Killam.
Total grant funds requested through the applications were $585,283, leaving Council and administration to analyze all the applications received, with focus placed on user and registrant statistics to concentrate on facilitys with a high regional use and impact.
The top four major facilities from that analysis were the Daysland Arena, Forestburg Arena, Sedgewick Rec Centre, and Killam Arena/Agriplex.
In the analysis, it was determined that these four facilities could split the $100,000 grant funding approved in the budget, “to assist with increased utility, insurance, and unforeseen repair and maintenance costs.”
Council agreed with that assessment, and allotted $25,000 to each of the four regional facilities in Daysland, Forestburg, Sedgewick, and Killam.
Council then took that one step further, and passed a motion to include funding in its 2026 draft budget for $100,000 to be distributed equally among the four organizations next year as well.
