Saskatchewan Winter Games mascots Tansi and Ravi take in a hockey game at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre. Thanks to the Moose Jaw Times-Herald for the picture.

Entertainers from Moose Jaw also performed during the opening ceremony and I was impressed by how much talent and variety there is in a small city of 35,000.

As a reporter, I covered much of the Saskatchewan Winter Games.

An athletes’ village was set up in one of the schools — Peacock Collegiate — and when I went to speak to the organiser on the first day of the Games, it was a bustling and exciting place to be.

Volunteers set up 1,000 bunk beds in the classrooms in just two days to sleep all the athletes and coaches.

The village had a television room, games room and quiet room for the youngsters and numerous other facilities.

Feeding a thousand athletes three times a day for a week was also a mammoth task.

They were bused up to the Heritage Inn, which has a large banquet hall, for buffet-style meals.

The manager told me it was like hosting a huge event three times a day for a week and that staff were working 24 hours a day cutting vegetables, cooking meals and loading a huge commercial dishwasher.

Each athlete took the games very seriously and whenever I spoke to a youngster I was impressed by their determination and drive.

Many said their ambition was to enter the Canada Games in 2011 and eventually become an Olympic star.

Events like the Saskatchewan Winter Games involve the whole community. People volunteered their time, turned out to watch and supported the athletes taking part.

For the athletes, the Games will be something they will remember for life.

It may be the start of a glorious career where they remember holding a gold medal for the first time or it may just be the memory of a great sporting week where they met friends from all over the province.

For Moose Jaw, it was a chance to show off a wonderful town to the rest of the province.