Medicine Hat Shines: A Recap

Brian welcomes Natalie Sauer and Linda McDonald discussing the incredible success of the recent Special Olympics Summer Games in Medicine Hat. The games may have just wrapped up a few days ago but the momentum continues.

Chapters

00:00 — Introduction
01:29 — Post-games wrap-up and the rain
02:31 — Community energy and why it was worth it
03:13 — Years of planning and fundraising
03:43 — Linda’s ambassador role and planning work
04:15 — Athlete life and pin trading
05:34 — Feedback from visiting teams
06:35 — Medicine Hat’s legacy and tourism impact
08:23 — Biggest challenges: food and weather
09:14 — Opening ceremony at Co-op Place
10:02 — Governor General's visit and official moments
11:01 — Dr. Ken Sauer’s memorable meeting
12:02 — Volunteer numbers and standing ovation
14:22 — Economic benefits to Medicine Hat and region
15:39 — Athlete emotion and medal moments
17:39 — High Five Fest and celebration events
18:47 — Closing ceremonies and the emotional finale
19:43 — Hole-in-one moment at the golf course
20:21 — Final report and what’s next
23:13 — Legacy funding and donations
23:45 — What happens next for local athletes
24:40 — Favourite memories from the guests
26:25 — Final takeaway: “We did it”

Last week's Special Olympics Summer Games in Medicine Hat brought together athletes, volunteers, and the community in a celebration of spirit and camaraderie.  

Natalie Sauer, chair of the Special Olympics Summer Games, reflected on the event, saying, "The athletes or our community... it was amazing in every step of the way." The energy and enthusiasm in Medicine Hat were palpable as the community rallied to welcome participants from across the country.  

Despite facing logistical hurdles, such as unexpected weather and food arrangements, the team behind the games adapted. This spirit of resilience was echoed by Linda McDonald, one of the games athlete ambassadord, who noted that the extra time for planning due to the pandemic was a blessing in disguise, allowing for thorough preparations.  

For many, the event was not just about competition but also about connection. Linda described her role in planning and engaging with athletes, highlighting the significance of pin trading as a cherished tradition among participants. 

Feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, with many declaring these games the best they’ve ever experienced. Natalie emphasized the importance of community involvement, stating, "It was an event that was really part of the community, not just on the side of the community." The legacy of the games appears to be a renewed appreciation for Medicine Hat itself, with visitors expressing their delight in the city’s charm.  

The success of the games wouldn't have been possible without the dedication of volunteers. As Linda noted, even when faced with challenges, volunteers stepped up, often saying, "I can do more or I can stay longer." Their efforts were recognized with a heartfelt standing ovation at the closing ceremony, a tribute to their commitment and passion.  

The Special Olympics Summer Games in Medicine Hat were much more than mere competitions; they were a testament to community spirit, resilience, and the power of connection.  As the dust settles on this remarkable week, it’s clear that the memories forged during the games will resonate within the community for years to come.  
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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again. And I'd like to ask you to do a favor. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can, please. Like, share, subscribe, and tell your friends about bring Back the Porch. when the busses started arriving and the energy in our community started to rise and and watching our community come together to really welcome everybody. I think that I don't know. Sometimes I struggle with myself as to what was the best moment the athletes or our community, and I just bring them all together and think it was amazing and every step of the way. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by medicine at Monumental Crafting Quality Memorials of Distinction since 1970. Well, back around 1980, there was a song that was quite popular by the Irish Rovers. That was wasn't that a party? I sort of reminded of that right now, because you have just come through what you called the greatest show that this city has ever seen. Natalie Sauer, chair of the Special Olympics Summer Games in Canada that have just wrapped up here in Medicine Hat, and Linda McDonald, who is a games ambassador, joins us on the porch here. Have you had a chance to catch your breath yet? I think a little bit, yeah, but I worked. I had to work the next we, we had volunteer on Sunday and I had to work Monday. So you really haven't had a chance to kind of sit back and think about it? What about you, Natalie? Well, I would say I did get a little bit better sleep on Sunday night than I had every other day, but there's still lots to do. Brian, when you wrap this up, there's still, you know, staffing and all the equipment and all the things to put away in the finances, of course, to balance out. So it's still a lot of work in that aspect ahead of it. But the ride of the week, will keep us going for a long time to come. Even with the rain, even. You know, and then the opening ceremony, I actually told everybody we were the sunniest city. And guess what? My nose grew, but the rain was actually, in a sense, helpful. It would have been a lot different. More difficult had it been a 40 plus, time frame. So we had a lot of logistical things in place for the heat. And luckily we didn't have to bring those to fruition. So. And the athletes, this specifically from both coasts, we're happy to play in the rain there. There used to be you could tell. I could tell because I was able to watch soccer. The one day it was raining. It did. They didn't care about three. No. Kept them cool. Yeah. So was it worth it? Every minute of it. Absolutely. Right. Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Just when the busses started arriving and the energy in our community started to rise and, and watching our community come together to really welcome everybody, I think that, I don't know, sometimes I struggle with myself as to what was the best moment for athletes or our community, and I just bring them all together and think it was amazing. And every step of the way. So absolutely, the grind of those years and all the things we had to do to get get it to the finish line was worth every minute. Yeah. You had to anticipate longer than expected because of the delay from 2022 and the cancellation of the games. Yes. Yeah, yes we did. We have been literally working on this. What I would say 7 to 8 years, the conceptual bid and the just putting the pieces into place. And then the fundraising of course, had to start. So it was a bit of a bonus for us to have it a longer period of time to raise the funds. Our community needed that. And so that that did help to have that extra time. But yeah, we've been talking about this for a long time, so it's nice to know that we did it. We we made it happen. And then we can enjoy every minute of those memories. Did you get a chance to enjoy it while it was happening? Yeah. Yeah. Now, you were an ambassador. What was your role? I actually got to help planning it, like, help with picking the slogan the pin does our pin design and help? Like choosing, like, the wheels that they were going to have. And at the hotels that like the snack. More like snack foods they were going to have when they had free time. Are you a past athlete in the Special Olympics? I am actually an athlete and I do figure skating, softball and curling. So that winter sports. So yeah, mostly. One more. Time. Yeah, yeah. Did you find some friends during? Yeah, I met some friends. I met some with some gymnastics. I met someone from at the bowling alley. Now I understand that you collected some pins. Yes. How many. 72 different ones. How did you do that. Just went up and asked for different pins. Did you have some to trade yourself. Yeah. We had our ambassador pin. Okay. Yeah. So did you get a rare one, one that it's going to be like, whoa. I got two everyone's ones from P.E.I. and it was a tractor with a potato on. And then one was from the Northwest Territories and it was the polar bear. Okay. Now that's kind of a tradition. I think pin trading. I know a lot of curling events. They do that. They it's a good thing they do it at a lot of the national events. Okay. Yeah. What's the feedback been like from not only the athletes but from the other, organizing committees that brought the athletes to Madison Hat. Well, the shift emissions from every one of the chapters we worked with throughout the last two years. We had a monthly meetings with them. A lot of them come from decades of experience of having gone to provincial and national games. And we had many, many come up to us afterwards and say, the best ones ever. So I think that feedback was in every way, shape or form and not that we had to be perfect, but that we pivoted every time we had to and solved and resolve their time frame, and mostly about how welcoming our community was. And they that we were definitely it was an event that was really part of the community, not just on the side of the community. And that was the biggest thing all our our beautiful hospitality. Yeah. And I heard and walking around taking pictures at like closing ceremonies, I heard that they all enjoyed. They were we had a hamburger, hot dog and poutine bar at the closing ceremony, and I heard they all liked, well, enjoyed it. Okay. I was talking to someone who works in the store downtown in Madison, and he said several people from out of town were here because of the games, and they were walking around and they said, you've got a beautiful downtown, a beautiful city. They loved being in Medicine Hat. Is that the legacy of these games? Absolutely, yes. I think people we were a bit of a forgotten corner sometimes in southeastern Alberta, this smaller community and, and people didn't know really existed, even folks from Alberta that came and had never been in our way, that we just assume everybody knows who we are. And from that, I think people will absolutely be coming back. And the reason I share that to Brian is because we not only had ten sports going, but we also hosted a friends and family event in Middleton, a historic site. So that was something for everybody to see. And a lot of pottery folks from across the country were able to resonate with that. We, of course, we had many trolley trips around the in our historic district, and we even had a contingency that stayed an extra day and rented a trolley privately and actually toured around our community and let us know how beautiful it was. So I think we really did ourselves proud for sure. Yeah, I know Sally saying did some of those trolley tours, and she was telling me she did the, I think, ten, 20 minute tours in one day and she could hardly talk at the end. It's true. She was talked about a lot to cram into a 20 minute tour and yes, we did. We had opportunities. Tourism was amazing. They stepped up and had three different nights that they offered just to pick up for free from the college and shuffle everybody over to the teepee and just leave them there for 20 minutes and then come back with another one and just kind of revolving for about three hours, for those three nights, so that the athletes did get a chance to take an opportunity for that night. You said that you had to pivot a couple of times. What was the biggest challenge that you faced? I would say probably around the food aspect of things that, not that we didn't have all the everything in place, but we had box lunches that we had to follow the people where they were at. You know, we we thought we had a number of them at Big Marble Go Center, where we had over 800 people that we had to have box lunches for. So just to pivot, to go and make sure we had enough for get more or dietary needs that had to be met and those kind of things, I would say probably the most in the weather. Again, we did have to prepare for that and then how our contingency plans would be working out. So everything that we we debriefed and briefed with the Special Olympics Canada team twice a day. And we could did they could they had their boots on the ground. And so we, we would just, connect and decide what needed to be done and what we needed to work on. Yeah, yeah. What was it like standing in front of 6500 people in the co-op place and the opening ceremony? The honor of my life? Really? Absolutely. I think that looking out is really a beautiful, because when you see the sea of color from all the chapters. I don't even like looking at the pictures. Now that we can look on like to Canada Special Olympics site. Just looking at the pictures and seeing it, it's spent. I was like, wow, I was down in that. I was down there and I couldn't see because I was down on the ice where the ice surface. Right. And I couldn't see it. So it's so neat that I could take time and like look at the pictures since like wow I was down there. Yeah. Right. It's like being a tree in the forest. And we got to look down. And there was the governor general of Canada and the lieutenant governor of Alberta. Like, how fortunate was that for our community that these, you know, these people of this stature would come and loved it? I could tell you that we we put together, schedule for both of them. We planned that out when they were here, and we did their pre-planning, of course, in order to prepare for their arrival. And we I think we hit those out of the park. They were able to enjoy every sport, revenue, connections with different people. And. And I know the governor general couldn't meet all of the ambassadors, so she asked to meet the other ones that just before the opening ceremonies, we actually got it. All the ambassadors got a picture with her, and we're getting a copy of that picture. Yeah, yeah. Louise Arbor was, I think, enthralled by the entire event every moment. And I going to tell you the highlight of that aspect was that Doctor Ken Sour, who was really the reason that initiated all this. We were able to have a ten minute time slot with, Her Excellency and Ken Sauer, and they never they held hands immediately, and they were both Order of Canada people, and they had just a beautiful time together. That was such an honor for both of them to have had to at that time. So certainly from a family perspective, that was very beautiful and overwhelming for Ken. And he was just honored to have had that to you. I was especially, gratified to see one of the pictures of Ken handing out medals. Absolutely. Yeah. You got to be part of it. He did. That was very important for us. We had to just manage that time of what it would look like for him. And we we his great grandchildren and his grandson took them on a tour of all the venues for a few hours, and we made sure there was, an opportunity to hand out medals for him for sure. Now the volunteer says, I know right up, almost to the end, you were sweating whether or not you were going to have enough. Did we have enough? We did. And I'll tell you what that look like. Maybe not the amount, but what it did is more people just picked up more shifts. And soon as we soon as we started going, we just had people that said, oh, this is wonderful, I can do more or I can stay longer or and so everything was fulfilled in that way. We had lots of folks that did come on board as the last couple of weeks, and it was a bit of a grind to have that go over across the finish line. But our collective community just came and embraced it. And, I would like to share with you because Linda was there too, at the closing. So I in our closing speech, did certainly mention our volunteers. And to see 2000 people stand up and give them a standing ovation when they weren't there, you know, they it was very closed event. So it was only, you know, maybe less than 100 of those 1500 volunteers there. But they gave a standing ovation, didn't they? Linda was anything. Yeah. And I could say something, too, about the volunteers. Is on the Thursday. I was supposed to give out medals, and they we kind of had a computer glitch. Rhythmic gymnastics. And like, the one person came over and said, you guys can go if you want, but all the all the volunteers, it was there to do the medals stayed until right to the end when they said it was going. Was it going to be a go that night? They still they didn't want to leave. They didn't know, you know, and every I don't think there is one person that I talked to did that didn't have a failing experience. I think that says everything. As well as we held a volunteer appreciation on Sunday and that's the highest amount of volunteers we ever had attending it. So usually a lot of people are kind of finished, you know, and they don't want to go to one more thing. Right? Okay, great. And I've never seen like wi fi. I've been to some things that like Kerry chose I've never saw that many people there. Yeah that's right. Yeah. And I and I think it was just a beautiful opportunity for people to share their stories and their experiences. And that was perfect. And nobody really wanted to leave. So it was it was nice. It really resonated. Yeah. Talk a little bit about the economic, benefits to not only Madison but southeast Alberta. Absolutely. While we're anticipating it to be about 12 million is what we're seeing. We did have the Canada tourism on site here. So that is a, mandatory aspect of the games that we do do an economic impact study. So we should probably have that result in the next couple of weeks. And just to really find out how much people were spending and what they were doing here. So absolutely, a benefit for our community. And right through to Brooks, we filled almost all those rooms in Brooks as well. The overflow was huge. And just yeah, a lot of industries were sharing the coffee shops and all those things really benefited from this. And I know I've had a few friends, parents of it, asking where they could go get food. So being nice in school, Pike said that there and in I, I heard that they saw people in different like provinces like with their shirts on and that come in to work. Yeah, yeah. So you were an ambassador for your employer as well? Yeah. Well, good for you. Yeah. I think the enthusiasm was contagious. You can tell that just looking at some of the videos and the athletes encouraging each other, not just trying to beat each other. I could tell you that, like, for being soft, a softie, it was so hard not to cry with the athletes when I was get, I got to give medals for rhythmic gymnastics, not crying when you were giving them the medals, you know, seeing them cry. You know. And the highlights of like the athletes, like there was one guy every time you would go up after he got two medals, I'm jingling, you know, I'm jingling and try not to laugh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. The athletes are really the centerpiece of, of, everything. And that's the reason everyone had such a fulfilling, you know, experience and opportunity. They. And this was right from when they showed up at Calgary Airport. We had a team of about 25 people up there to greet, and, and put our bus ambassadors on the bus and brought them to Madison, and they carried on from there. And every volunteer had shared the stories about the connection to the athletes in every way, shape or form. So they're really the reason that I think everyone to this nowaday and carries their experience forward, is the joy that everybody felt because of just the beautiful way that they really respect one another, that they bring joy and support to one another. It's sportsmanship, over the moon that you don't ever see anywhere else. I know Brian Varga told us when he was here back in February, as we're about six months out, that he has been at other games. And he says the athletes always remember him. Yes, because they see his face. I know you. Saw that happen to me. Was going to I feel like I went to nationals for powerlifting sometime in the two early 2000. One of the athletes tonight, I remembered me from then. Really? Yeah. So you make lifelong friends. Yeah. And you are very memorable. Yeah. I would never forget you either. Sure. Tell me about the High-five fest. Yes. Yeah I so that is it's not a mandatory event that you have to host. It was just something that we happened to see that Calgary did in 2024. It kind of rolled out to something of a big a bit of a festival around some medal presentations. And we thought, you know, a majority of the athletes didn't have something to do on Saturday because there was a majority of the sports were finished. And why don't we just bring a high five feeling, to the college and just see how it goes? And it was full, wasn't it was. Yeah. There was a lot of people sometimes you could hardly move in the entrance of the college. Yeah. So we did offer, we offered the metal presentations and activities for them to enjoy and outdoor games and music, and we did everything we could to make it a celebration, and that worked out beautifully. But what I thought was nice is they brought the quadrant over to the college so the teams could get pictures, and for a night they called Trent and it was lit. Yes. Yeah, the flame was a special part two of the Olympics. And what was the feeling like when it was turned off? I know I do. Well, Mayor Clarke, she's the one that, you know, announced it closed and she had to take a big sigh too, before she said they were very close because. Yeah, it's it's a, you know, it's a huge emotional wave. It's mentally, physically, all people in and then it's all of a sudden it's over very quickly. And so that that was a difficult to, I would say difficult part for everybody. Yeah. Even the athletes were saying it was really sad to see them go. So I think it was certainly that resonated with everybody in that. And that's something I tried to do. Like we had five athletes for Medicine Hat there. Yes, I did visit Western, but I tried to visit with more of the athletes that weren't from the five that were permitted, so that. Yeah, you know, one of the moments I saw, on social media was the fellow on the 16th hole at the Medicine Hat Golf and Country Club when he got a hole in one that got national attention, he said something. Yeah, I happened to just walk over to the golfers, just be there at that point in time. And we have two chair people that were running that event for Ali Wiseman and Cam Jakes, and I think they were more excited than the golfer. But the celebration was amazing and beautiful for the golf course, and they right away provided him a ceremony and gave him the, the flag. And, so we always. Have a picture of him with the he'll always remember we here got a hole in it, that golf course because they got that thing. It says hole in one. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. So what's next. Well what do you do for an encore? Right. Well it's most definitely where we're in the process of putting a final report together. So every aspect of the event will now give us the feedback, the, the good and the challenges that came with that. And then we'll go back together as the medicine that Alberta Games Society and we'll review them like what is the capacity of our community? Where are we able to to provide everything that we needed to, or we make recommendations to council and to tourism on what might look different in order to embrace something as a national level event. We we've known always that we do provincial ones. We really rock those. We've had those quite extensively over the last 30 years. But this at a national level was a whole other aspect. It was bilingual. It had a lot of protocol to it. And that and I think we rose to the occasion for sure, but we definitely have some things to consider and then look to see what the future holds. Well, you've got the machinery. Which I sure do. And I've heard people whispering Memorial Cup. I know. I know, I've heard that too already, because there was another thing that was need is to actually have a purse, like one of our special athletes included in the last leg of the tour truck. That was so amazing to see it and to even see him like it John do the polar plunge. Yeah yeah yeah it was. A beautiful moment for Covid for our local. Yeah. People you know. They had we had six of our games committee actually did the Polar plunge. And a little bit easier to do it in this weather than it when it. Was still cold. Oh was it, I actually did the polar like, it was still cold, but like they said it wasn't as would it be as cold as in the winter. Yeah. That's right, it's right for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And when we, when we wish for Memorial Cup, we did put our bid in. I was part of that committee as well. And there was some things that came forward that, you know, they would consider that Medicine Hat has to consider. And accommodation sites are a part of that. And what we have available and, and to what started like through 3 to 5 star hotel. So those were some of the things that were acknowledged and, and from this as well, I can tell you, the beautiful people in the catering world and Medicine Hat led by Stan Sakamoto, that had to actually pivot in the sense that we don't have accommodation sites that have food services. Very few do. Thankfully some do so that to take the onus off of that. But we had a caterer in to all the hotel sites in order to make that happen. So a lot, a lot going on, a lot of things to pull from and a lot of learnings. And we'll bring all those forward and, and look forward to, putting bids for other things. Well, you've set a template for others to follow and a tough act to follow. And I noted, when I looked at the, web page, that you're still accepting donations. It's true, because the funding goes to, Special Olympics Canada, Special Olympics Alberta and Special Olympics medicine Hat. So any legacy funding, that is where it goes back to, so those programs can always use support. So anyone who has maybe had a good feeling of this event will make sure that that gets that legacy, gets put forward to other places. The national games are over. What happens with our local athletes now? Do they continue to play their sports? Yes, we could like next Sunday. We actually are having a registration for our winter sports. Okay. And then and we also have a few summer shorts. Yeah. So the athletes continue. Yeah they sure do. Yeah. It's a very active group already. And from this event I can share with you that certainly people are more be, wanting to be part of Special Olympics medicine hats chapter, whether it's coaching or considered to be a board member. Or trying to get like Snerdley was saying, there is a I it would like to try to get soccer, which we we tried to do but didn't work out. Oh, there's still work to be done there. Absolutely. And I think we can always continue to support, that aspect of our community for sure. This question is kind of like asking you to pick your favorite child. But what was your most special memory? Actually I k I have two that are the same. But it was meeting the governor general and being able to present medals to his MC gymnastics because with MC tenacity is similar to my winter sport of figure skating. Yeah, and some of the same athletes. If I make it to nationals in winter, I might see some of them. Okay. Yeah. Natalie, that's really I know it's hard. When I think that the biggest joy is, is all the planning, you know, all those the directors in the chair, people in the staff that have been working so hard for all these, you know, these years. Are they thousands of hours? And then it all came to fruition in that I think that is the most proud moment that's to see everybody else have an enjoyable time and that it came together. And that's just kind of a huge group hug to all the people that had done that and deserve all the accolades. It's a city. It took a community to do it and that's definitely how it all went. So that's I did see the right the volunteer appreciation that I've never been prouder to be a Madison Hatter. And, that will always stay there. I think also it would be like we were facing it was kind of hard to see the athletes. But when Natalie was saying and then one of my fellows, athlete ambassadors, tapped me on my shoulder and goes, look. And all you saw is like, can I kind of look like a wave or a tiger hockey when the athletes are starting to stand to thank the volunteers? Yeah. Beautiful. So I think if you were going to sum it up in three words, we did it or you did it. We did it. We shine together. Yes. Shine together would be our three words. Yeah, yes. Yeah. What we did Madison has Sean. Thank you. Anything else you want to add before we say goodbye? No. Okay. Natalie. You're happy? I'm, I'm thrilled. And thank you for this opportunity. And to. We just look forward to. Yes. Embracing our community. I will share the counselor, Yousef Muhammad said to me, just, the closing ceremonies. I don't think I've seen Madison had happier in a long time. And I would share the same sentiment that I agree, and I hope we keep that that beautiful feeling for a long time to come. Amen. Natalie Sauer and Linda McDonald. Thank you for the visit. You're welcome. It's our pleasure. Hey, Linda. Thank you. I'm.