Over 700 youths will celebrate New Year’s Eve at Hillcrest Apostolic Church as Joe’s Place Youth Centre’s annual Voltage event fully returns after the pandemic cancelled the last two years.
Voltage: Gravitate — the largest chem- and drug-free youth event in Saskatchewan — starts at 8 p.m. on Dec. 31 and runs until 6 a.m. on Jan. 1. Teens from 13 to 19 can participate in dozens of fun activities, while two-time Juno winners The Color and dance troupe Refined Undignified will entertain throughout the night.
Some exciting activities include axe-throwing, laser tag, bazooka ball, a 40-player arcade game, an art room, dune buggy rides, and frolicking with puppies.
For more information or to register, visit www.voltage-sk.com.
This event is known for youths acting in a live drama — usually an adventure- or science fiction-themed story — but that couldn’t happen in the past two years, said centre founder Joe Dueck.
Instead, in 2020, Joe’s Place filmed the drama and showed the video to groups of 30 youths. In 2021, the health region let the organization hold a small New Year’s Eve party for 140 youths.
“So this year we’re back with a full-blown 700 (youths attending). So we’re pretty excited,” Dueck said.
This event has been occurring for more than 20 years and was originally called “Jump” because it was an outdoor skiing event. However, because the weather was frigid for two years, organizers moved it inside.
They also changed the name to Voltage because the event needed plenty of power to run all the video games, arcade machines, lights and projectors, Dueck explained. Another reason is that it was a “happy-sounding word.”
“We’ve sometimes joked that maybe we should have a contest that the youths could guess how many watts of energy Voltage actually used by the end of the night. And we would check the power meter before and after and see who was closest,” he chuckled, adding he had no idea how much power the event used — but it was a ton.
Organizers faced a big learning curve with planning this year after being away for two years, while they didn’t know what health restrictions they might face, Dueck said. However, the situation is now full steam ahead, while he thought it was amazing how much everything fell into place and how quickly people jumped on board.
The centre began brainstorming ideas in the summer, while it went full-out with planning and organizing in September.
The subtitle for each year’s Voltage usually comes from the theme of the live theatrical performance, he continued. Joe’s Place hires a scriptwriter to create the story, and once that’s completed, organizers look for a word that fits the story and applies to the event.
From this year’s drama, gravitate was the best fit.
“That’s a pretty powerful word. We hope that youth gravitate to Voltage — a safe and chem-free event — instead of some of the negative party options that might pull them in,” Dueck said.
This year’s performance has a sci-fi theme to it. The poster reflects that by taking its visual cues from “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” with a 15-year-old centre youth and a college intern portraying the poster’s characters.
Dueck expected the audience to be pleasantly surprised with some of the “unsuspecting” character appearances in the roughly 45-minute performance, along with some fun cameos.
“I think it’s going to be awesome this year. And I think the kids are going to have a blast,” he continued. “There are some really funny moments and it’s well written.”
Since the event runs until 6 a.m., Dueck joked that most people should nap beforehand to survive the night. However, he won’t because he — supposedly — doesn’t have time; an early Christmas trip to Manitoba is his time to relax.
Dueck added that businesses and residents can still sponsor the event, which would help cover the higher inflation-related expenses.
