Three more days to vote

September 10, 2013, 1:55 am
Kevin Weedmark

There are three days of voting left in the Rider Nation Community Celebration contest.

Moosomin was in third place in the contest at the half-way mark, and voting will continue to Sept. 11.

Based on an application put together by Mike Schwean, Moosomin was selected as one of eight finalists for the contest.

Online voting will determine the winners. The town with the most votes will receive $50,000 and the second and third place towns will receive $25,000 each for recreation projects. the top three finishers will also receive a $10,000 game day party prior to the Grey Cup. People can vote online at 101greycupfestival.ca/vote

Mike Schwean is happy with third place, although he knows the towns in fourth and fifth spot will be gunning for that third place spot and working even harder to bring in the votes.

“I was happy with third place—as long as we finish top three that’s fine,” he says. “I think two would be a lot better than three. I assume if you’re four and five you’re really going to push, so it’s not optimum to be in third, but if everyone votes every day we can do this.”

People trying to vote every day have been frustrated by problems with the voting site that prevented people from voting some days, and changes to voting rules that mean now only one vote will be recorded per day per IP address, meaning schools and offices may be able to record only one vote.

Schwean says people remembering to vote over the next three days will be critical.
“The last three days are going to be the big days,” he said. “We want to make sure we get as many people voting as we can.

“I think we have a lot of people voting. With three days of committed voting, hopefully we get the football field done.”

He said he appreciates the support people have been giving the campaign.

“I thank everybody for voting.

“People have been really good about voting. I’m hearing from all sorts of people who are saying they’re voting every day.

“The Riders and and the chance of winning something bring people together. I think it’s been uniting. It would be nice to have a reward at the end, but I think the most important thing is how everyone has worked together.

“If we don’t get third and win a Grey Cup party, with our new Rider Fan Club we’ll have a Grey Cup party of our own.”

While promoting the contest, Schwean has established a Rider Fan Club with George Reed as honorary chair and with 150 members so far.

“There are people from all over who have joined the club—a lot of people with ties to this area.”