Let the games begin.

Next year, more than 2,000 athletes will head to Fort McMurray for the 2004 Arctic Winter Games.

Three years later, upward of 2,400 participants will descend on Strathcona County east of Edmonton for the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games.

Combined, both events will result in an economic impact that is pegged in the $20-million range – in excess of $12 million for the Arctic Winter Games and between $7-$9 million for the Western Canada Summer Games, according to some preliminary estimates.

While Strathcona County now begins the task of turning its bid into reality, the Fort McMurray region is priming itself for an event that will attract an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 visitors, along with 2,100 athletes from five countries and 11 jurisdictions.

“Reaction from the community has been tremendous,” said Tom O’Hara, general manager of the 2004 Arctic Winter Games. “They’re very positive and very supportive.”

The eight-day event, from Feb. 28-March 6, will also draw upward of 200 members of the media, including the CBC as the official broadcaster. Opening ceremonies will be telecast across the CBC’s network.

The 2004 Arctic games, awarded in December 2000 to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes the city of Fort McMurray, has a budget of just under $6 million. “We are close to balancing our budget and raising the necessary money to fund the games,” said O’Hara. “We hope to generate a small surplus and leave this as a legacy to the community.”

About 20 per cent of the Arctic games’ budget will be covered by government grants, with a large portion of the remaining funds coming from oilsands companies and supporting industries.

The games, held every two years, include 20 sports ranging from Alpine skiing to volleyball, as well as Arctic-related sports such as Dene games, dog mushing and a snowshoe biathlon.

“The Arctic Games organizing committee is attempting to show Alberta and Canada that the Fort McMurray region is a great place to live and raise families,” said O’Hara.

For Strathcona County, which beat competing bids from six other Alberta communities including Calgary, a combined Red Deer/Red Deer County pitch and St. Albert (just north of Edmonton), the work is just beginning.

In awarding the bid to the county, Jack Robertson, chair of the site selection committee, said it was “the energy, the attitude, the vitality and the feeling” that swayed the bid in Strathcona’s favour.

“We started off with a dream. We said that we will bring it here,” said Margaret Marciak, team leader of the county’s bid committee. “The next step will be to take a breath and then to start to get an organizing committee together.”

Also high on the group’s agenda is an economic impact study and a trip to Manitoba this summer to learn first-hand from the 2003 Western Canada Summer Games hosted by the communities of Beausejour, Gimli, Selkirk and Stonewall.

The county expects the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games to cost about $2.75 million, with $1.5 million from the province through Alberta Community Development.

Marciak expects the remainder of the funds to be raised through friends of the Games and big business, including gifts in kind in lieu of cash.

“I think it is a tremendous opportunity,” said Strathcona County Mayor Vern Hartwell. “It will have an economic impact that will probably exceed $9 million. It gives an opportunity for the business community to display themselves, it gives an opportunity for all of the people in our community to continue to have pride in (their) facilities.”

But Hartwell calls the economic benefits secondary. “It’s the mood, the people, the community that will be the beneficiaries of these games.”

With most of the facilities already in place, officials don’t expect to be pouring money into new construction. The county is moving ahead with the construction of four new soccer fields – a plan that was in place regardless of whether or not the Strathcona bid was successful – but Hartwell said they will analyse and work with the organizing committee to see if any other changes are needed.

The Western Canada Summer Games, held every four years, are dedicated to the development of excellence in sport by the four western provinces and three territories. Competitors are between the ages of 14 to 21. Sports for the 2007 edition include athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, canoeing, cycling, diving, field hockey, rowing, rugby, sailing, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, volleyball and wrestling.

Meanwhile, St. Albert bid chairman Bill Hole, and Ron Lebsack, vice-chair of the Red Deer Bid Committee, applauded the winner.

“It was a tough competition and we congratulate them for coming out on top. We wish them the very best of success as they prepare for the summer of 2007,” said Hole.

Despite the win by Strathcona County, Hole said St. Albert benefited by participating in the bid process. “The bid process has also left a human legacy that will serve our community well for years to come,” he said. “Hundreds if not thousands of St. Albert residents worked together and gained a renewed appreciation for the people, organizations and pride that make our community such a great place to live and work.”

Lebsack said the bidding process had some positive aspects for Red Deer as well.

“It opened the community’s eyes that it’s about time we brought back some events into Red Deer,” he said. “In the last two to three years, we haven’t had any major sporting events here. I think what it did was, it opened up the volunteers’ eyes in the community that we are due for another event.”