It was a scene of excitement as years of work and planning came to fruition with the official opening of the new Mosaic Stadium and the newly renovated Confederation Park on Friday.
“When you actually see the bricks and mortar, you actually see it opening, it’s chilling. It’s fantastic and tomorrow’s going to be unbelievable,” said Mayor Michael Fougere.
Water streams from a restored fountain at Confederation Park near Mosaic Stadium.
A crowd including Saskatchewan Roughriders fans, politicians and members of the Roughriders organization gathered Friday morning on the west side of the stadium near the edge of Confederation Park to hear speeches and celebrate the stadium and park.
Premier Brad Wall is still in awe of the stadium. During Wall’s speech, he joked about how on the day that he helped announce a new stadium would be built, he and every Roughriders fan became a stadium designer, dreaming of what the new home for the Roughriders could possibly look like. On Friday, he couldn’t even name all the features of the stadium he couldn’t have imagined several years ago.
“It is a world-class facility. I think that phrase gets thrown around a lot. A lot of things are world-class that may or may not be … this is,” he said.
The grand opening including the unveiling of the renovated 90-year-old Confederation Park. The renovations included a refurbishment of the original park fountain, with new frog statues in it made by the University of Regina sculpture department.
“The plan all along was to fix the park and not have just like a parking lot; have a place to gather, pregame and for other festivities and celebrations throughout the year,” Fougere said.
The park will be used to host the Roughriders pregame tailgate parties, along with events throughout the year.
“To have a setting like this for the pregame activities, it’s unheard of in sort of modern sports facilities. So we’re just really, really excited,” said Craig Reynolds, Roughriders president and CEO.
The Friday festivities also included the unveiling of a commemorative plaque which will be placed along the outside of the stadium near Gate 3.
