P.E.A.C.E. 100 RALLY COMES TO AN END

Participants in last year s joint P.E.A.C.E. 100 and SSA Provincial
Snowmobile Festival that took place in Nipawin on Feb. 27 and 28.

After 19 years the P.E.A.C.E. 100 Snowmobile Rally will not take place
in Nipawin this year.

The Nipawin Elks Lodge hosted the P.E.A.C.E. 100 or Police-Elks
Assisting Community Education Snowmobile Rally since 1991. It has been
a key aspect of the fundraising efforts by the Saskatchewan Elks
Association and Royal Purple for drug awareness education and programs
such as D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).

The termination of the rally appears to be the result of a
disagreement between the provincial Elks Association and the Nipawin
Lodge over the rally's success. Darrin Stephen, the Immediate Past
Provincial President of the Saskatchewan Elks Association, cited
insufficient interest in the rally.

"It was cancelled due to lack of interest," Stephen said. "The Nipawin
Lodge was no longer interested in running it."

But the Nipawin Lodge has a different view about the
situation.

"The reason is that the provincial body of the Elks didn't think we're
doing a good job on it," Nipawin Lodge Secretary Eugene Rawlyk said.

Rawlyk, who has been a founding member of the P.E.A.C.E. 100
Snowmobile Rally, said he is quite disappointed.

"All our Elks in Nipawin are disappointed, but if you can't live with
them you just tell them 'Do it your way,'" he said.

According to Rawlyk the event raised about $450,000 during its 19
years of existence. Most of the money raised through the event came
from ticket sales. To participate in the rally, each snowmobile rider
had to sell one book of tickets.

Ticket sales are still taking place this year through the various Elks
and Royal Purple lodges in the province. The 2010 P.E.A.C.E. 100 /
D.A.R.E. draw will take place on Jan. 30.

The hosting of the P.E.A.C.E. 100 Snowmobile Rally was not always an
easy task for the Nipawin Elks Lodge, with declining attendance in
recent years.

"It was down a little," Rawlyk admitted. "But we were changing a few
things and I think we could have built it up again."

Ironically last year's event proved to be a great success, as the
P.E.A.C.E. 100 was hosted in conjunction with the Saskatchewan
Snowmobile Association's Provincial Snowmobile Festival.

"It was a perfect year last year," Rawlyk said.

Despite the current situation, Rawlyk is hopeful that the snowmobile
rally can still be revived.

"This is a provincial deal and all the Elks and Royal Purple lodges
across the province are supporting it and that's the way to have it,"
he said. "It was run good, it made them a lot of money."

Darrin Stephen of the Saskatchewan Elks Association is also not
discounting the idea that the rally can be resurrected.

"We might," he said.