It's probably safe to assume that pink isn't the most popular colour choice at the Jansen mine site. It's an overwhelmingly male place, where beards and work boots are the norm and style is overshadowed by substance.
That's the way it usually is, but things were a little different on Sept. 26. Pink was the colour of choice. Huge men dressed in tights wore pink wigs and stuffed their shirts with balloons. The occasion was the Paint Saskatchewan Pink breast cancer fundraiser and it was a wild (and wet) affair.
Eighteen teams, including one that featured several local mayors, reeves and councilors, raised well over $150,000 in pledges in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. BHP Billiton then matched that total, meaning over $300,000 was raised at the event.
The celebratory event at the mine site featured food, music and plenty of games for all 18 teams. Most of the games were of the quick, silly, yet challenging variety: in one, players had to move an orange along the ground by hitting it with a banana tied to a belt hanging around their waists. It made for some funny (and awkward) moments as players thrust up against one another with little room to spare. Another game saw players start by placing an oatmeal cookie over their eye, then having to wiggle the cookie into their mouths without using their hands.
The local team included, among others, Mike Saretsky, the mayor of Watson, and Jerry McGrath, Reeve of the RM of LeRoy. The team raised over $2,200 in pledges and was recognized with a plaque at the end of the day's activities.
It was the third Paint Saskatchewan Pink event put on by BHP Billiton and set a new record for fundraising. The company is in the process of opening the world's largest potash mine, scheduled to begin operations in 2016.
