Racette Junior High School will be hosting another viewing party with Amazing Race Canada contestants James Makokis and Anthony Johnson on Sept. 3.
The event is set to begin Tuesday at 7 p.m., and the St. Paul school division is excited to be hosting a viewing party for the second time this season.
St. Paul Education Regional Division Superintendent Glen Brodziak announced the event during a board meeting on Aug. 29, saying organizers reached out to the division to host the event at the school again.
While the last event (held on Aug. 13) was open to about 300 people to attend, this time the division is hoping to attract at least double that number. Brodziak says the division is excited to be hosting the event and a number of staff members were in attendance at the last event, showing support.
He noted the success of the last viewing party was due to "our community stepping up," and added, "This is part of a community initiative."
Makokis, who is originally from Saddle Lake and is competing on the show alongside his spouse, said he is excited to be returning to St. Paul for another viewing party.
"We had such a positive response from our . . . viewing party . . . in St. Paul at Racette school, with strong support from the Town of St. Paul and the (St. Paul school division), that we wanted to bring this semi-final . . . back to as close to home as possible," said Makokis, via email with the Journal on Thursday afternoon.
"We realize that there are many people who have been supporting us, rooting for us, and even smudging their television sets every Tuesday at 8 p.m. while the Amazing Race Canada is on so that we would keep moving on in the race, and we wanted to have a central place where they could all come together from throughout the Lakeland."
Makokis says he is hoping the event can draw an even bigger crowd than the viewing party held in Cold Lake on Aug. 27, which attracted about 500 people. He says they are hoping to fill all 600 seats to capacity at Racette.
Makokis and Johnson have been competing on the Amazing Race Canada television show, travelling across Canada and completing challenging tasks along the way. Team Ahkameyimok, as they have become known, is one of the last four teams in the competition.
The event doesn't cost anything to attend, but organizers do require people to get tickets by visiting www.tarcsemifinals.eventbrite.ca
