A fun-family event held every year in Lampman brings home those who have moved away and draws from across the southeast in attendees. Lampman Sports Weekend is packed with excitement and this year promises to again bring sports and fun together.
Lampman Rec Director, Haley Ingham, explained, “It’s a busy weekend in Lampman. We have beach volleyball on the Friday night, and slow pitch has been growing in number of teams we get so that will run Friday evening this year as well as on Saturday and Sunday. There’s men’s hardball which runs Saturday and Sunday, and ladies fastball on Sunday.”
“There’s also a movie in the park on Friday and Saturday night Samara Yung from Yorkton is coming to perform.”
Appealing to all age groups, the weekend focuses on bringing the community together for an active and fun way to fundraise for projects in Lampman.
“Traditionally the Lampman Lions would put this on years ago, but after the community got a Rec Board together we now plan it with help from the Lions and the other community clubs come together to help,” Ingham said.
“It’s an interesting dynamic because it brings everyone together, everyone back to Lampman for one time in the year. It’s cool because it’s geared towards everyone, toddlers to senior citizens and everyone in-between enjoy it.”
As a fundraiser this project has recently helped towards expanding the campground from 40 to 68 full service sites and a new washroom house with brand new facilities.
“We’re looking forward to another really good year,” Ingham stated.
This year the weekend fundraiser will be used by the Rec Board to finish upgrading the swimming pool, which includes flooring and finishing the pool matting around the structure.
Additionally one of the major renovations will be to the ball diamonds.
“For the past, probably 25 years, one of the ball diamonds has been totally unusable because it’s always under water,” Ingham explained. “So, we’re planning on coming up with an idea which will fix this and give us that ball diamond back.”
“We’re focusing on transitioning from being retroactive to being proactive. By doing these large projects, it does cost up front, but then we only have to focus on smaller maintenance later.”
Children and family activities include a movie in the park on Friday night, as well as a “Kiddies Corner” during the weekend which will include bouncy castles, popsicles, juice, and face painting.
High school students are encouraged to join in the fun at the four-person beach volleyball tournament.
“Last year we had some high school girls put in a team and their parents were on another one, they had an absolute blast when they had to play each other!” Ingham laughed.
“Saturday night we shut down a portion of Main Street and have a dance, minors are allowed but they require a parent or guardian to get in,” Ingham explained. “Local community groups will have food booths set up with all sorts of different snacks here.”
This year slow pitch will take on a fun twist. Ingham found that there were numerous teams entering in the past, so decided to have slow pitch run on the Friday night as well. Excited about this, the Rec Board is renting lights from a local business to have the games played under the big lights.
Men’s hardball will be found on Saturday and Sunday, which draws teams from southern Saskatchewan as well as the northern states.
Breakfast is served by community groups on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, with the 4-H Beef and Lighthorse clubs making the Saturday breakfast while either the Fire Department or Knights of Columbus will take on Sunday.
“Sunday is then a kind of wrap up,” Ingham stated. “Ball is coming to an end and the ladies fastball usually has a few teams so they only run that day. In the early afternoon the Lions then put on their famous roast beef dinner and the weekend is usually wrapped up by 7 p.m. that evening.”
Ingham is also looking for umpires for both ladies fastball and men’s hardball. For more information, to register a team, or to umpire contact Ingham at the Rec Office, (306)461-3521.
