When my wife and I hit the road out of Saskatoon to Regina in late July, we were embarking on our first “annual tradition” since moving to Saskatchewan. A Riders game. Last year’s game was our first and we had a great time – football, food and for me, the first feelings of belonging in Saskatchewan. With a year on the prairies under our belt, we headed south to cheer on our team in what is now an expected part of every summer here.

And similar to last year, there were preparations before heading to the game. Like applying a Gainer tattoo before making our way out to the stadium…

A big difference between last year’s trip and this year’s, aside from familiarity with Regina, is the new stadium. The old place was a bit of a dump through the eyes of someone who hadn’t had a lifetime of memories in the place like just about everyone else in the province. The new place… wow!

The new Mosaic Stadium is cozy with the seats wrapped tightly around the field. The field itself is sunk into the ground to protect the fans and the game from the harsh winds that can whip along the prairies. Wind wasn’t an issue on this day, but the scorching temperatures were. A heat wave had its grips on the province and at game time the temperature was 34C. For the seats in the sun (which unfortunately, was where our tickets were) the feel like temperatures were up in the mid forties celsius. This is going to be a great venue to come back to year after year to see games – I’ll just pick up shady side seats from now on.

There were some really interesting food options, but whenever I see perogies on a menu, that’s basically what I’m always going to go with. These were delicious, especially with the ample crumbled bacon.

I’ve written about how last year’s player introductions made me feel some first seeds of belonging in Saskatchewan, and even had me tearing up a bit. This year, no tears, but still goosebumps as I stood with 33,000 other green clad fans to welcome our team to the field. Bring ’em out!

Argos. Riders. The opening kickoff.

After a slow start by the good guys in green, the Riders punched in a touchdown in our end of the field. High-fives and celebrations all around!

As the game moved into the second quarter, we went off in search of some shade to fend off heat stroke and found some standing room places almost at mid field. All of the seats in this area are held by season ticket holders, so it was nice to watch part of the game from this great vantage point while avoiding the sun.

The half-time entertainment on the day was a hoot. Weiner dog races! In the championship heat, the clearly fastest dog of the day was 10 feet from winning before making an abrupt left turn toward the sidelines to lose in dramatic fashion. It was neat to hear thousands of people belly laugh about this at the same time.

Continuing to avoid the sun, we took up residence in one of the end zones for the third quarter. On this drive, the Riders kicked a field goal to take the lead. Also, check out that scoreboard at the far end. It’s a beauty. Also, $171,873 for the 50/50 draw! People in Saskatchewan like their 50/50 like Atlantic Canadians like their 50/50.

The shade reached our ticketed seats near the end of the third quarter, so we moved back to watch the rest of the game from here. The Argos had gone ahead in a wonderfully entertaining back and forth game until the Riders found the endzone once again. Everyone’s on their feet to celebrate!

And no TD celebration is complete without Gainer doing a lap of the field to high-five people in the front row. By the end of the day, he might have needed a left shoulder replacement.

After holding the Argos to a field goal during a late drive, the green gang added one more touchdown to close out the scoring in a 38-27 win. This is the last play of the game with the outcome no longer in doubt.

The game was a complete blast, and it was great to see our team pick up its first win with us there after last year’s disappointing loss. Maybe we’ll start making this a twice a year tradition starting next year…