'Four and a half years in the making': Final touches underway for 109th Grey Cup Festival

Hundreds of workers are putting the final touches on the REAL District ahead of the 109th Grey Cup Festival.

The festival officially launches in Saskatoon on Tuesday before making its way to Regina on Wednesday for the remainder of the week.

Kent Paul, the CFO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the chair for the Grey Cup Festival Organizing Committee, said preparations should finish up by Tuesday.

“This Grey Cup has been planned for about four and a half years in the making,” Paul said.

“We’re all excited for it to be here. Starting [Monday] and throughout the week, the entire team is working hard with the REAL District team and all of our partners and stakeholders to put on truly an amazing event.”

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Over the next couple of days, Paul said the priority is filling out the festival footprint at the REAL District and around the city.

“Already if you drive the footprint, you’ll start to see pageantry showing up,” he said.

With thousands of CFL fans from across Canada expected to descend on the Queen City in the coming days, hotels are fully booked.

“Cancellations are incredibly common during large city-wide events like Grey Cup,” Tracy Fahlman, the president and CEO of the Regina Hotel Association, said.

“What we recommend is if anyone is still looking for a hotel room, call the hotel directly. Not all hotel rooms are posted online or on third party sites. Sometimes if there’s a cancellation, it can get snapped up so they don’t have time to post it.”

RESTAURANTS READY TO ROLL

Restaurants and bars around Regina are preparing for what they expect to be a busy week.

Staff at Bushwakker Brewpub have brewed a special ‘Three Down Pilsner’ for the festival.

They’ve also created two special burgers for the Grey Cup Burger Battle, which will start later this week: The Winnipeg Burger and The Toronto Burger.

The burger battle tradition started with the Labour Day Classic between the Roughriders and Blue Bombers, but will now see a Grey Cup rendition.

“The best selling burger is often an indicator of which team will win the Labour Day Classic,” Grant Frew, the bar manager of Bushwakker Brewpub, said.

“We’ll be offering both burgers on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll see if this tradition holds true: will the best selling burger determine which team will win the Grey Cup?”

Bushwakker has been open for all three previous Grey Cup Festivals that were held in Regina.

Frew said he and his staff are looking forward to the energy the festival brings.

“People come in from all across the country. We see different fans wearing their team jerseys and it’s such a wonderful feeling of camaraderie and celebration and people are just so happy to be here,” Frew said.

“We’re expecting it to be just absolutely nuts. It’s going to be so much fun.”

The Fat Badger will also be hosting a variety of events throughout the week, including a CFLPA player party, live music and photo opportunities with the Grey Cup.

For the owners, the Grey Cup Festival is a milestone event.

“Back in 2013, this space was empty. A few friends of mine decided to throw a pop up bar over Grey Cup,” Perry Juttla, a co-owner of The Fat Badger, said.

“It was a blast so after the weekend, we sat down and decided to open something permanently. Nine years later, we’re still here. We owe a lot of thanks to the CFL and the city for bringing the Grey Cup to Regina.”

The Grey Cup Festivals runs from Tuesday to Sunday.