It’s my Parting Shot to delve into the pause of the annual Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner…..

The 2026 edition of the Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner was supposed to happen tomorrow night. But, it was reported at the beginning of this week that it was being cancelled – the first time the annual event hasn’t happened since 1959.

I had, actually, been alerted to this back around Christmas time when a long-time friend and sports community leader told me that he had been told that it didn’t look like the dinner was going to happen while they were meeting to determine who this year’s Sportsmen of the Year candidates would be.

Since then, there have been plenty of whispers and rumours as to why the Kinsmen Club of Saskatoon opted to cancel. I was hoping to address these in an interview with someone from the K-C-O-S yesterday, but was instead sent a text with a statement from President Tony Meyer that said, in part, We are taking a one-year pause to ensure that what comes next is thoughtful, sustainable, and successful for our community and our partners. During this time, our fundraising efforts are focused on our latest 50/50 lottery, which launched in November and runs until February 14 2026. We are confident this fundraiser will have a meaningful impact, particularly for our lottery partner, Ronald McDonald House Saskatchewan. To everyone who has attended or sponsored the Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner over the years: thank you. We are grateful for your support, and we look forward to welcoming you back in 2027.

This year’s dinner was supposed to have iconic Canadian women’s soccer star Christine Sinclair as the main guest speaker, but ticket sales were said to be lagging badly. That was one rumour.

Now, because of my role as play-by-play voice of the Saskatoon Blades, I’ve only been able to attend one of 31 previous dinners that I’ve lived here for. The one that I was able to attend, the late Pat Burns was a great guest speaker – what I was able to hear of it! Herein lies another rumour – the Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner had turned into a nearly out-of-control stag. It was a loud, drunken orgy of sound from over a thousand people that was turning off some of the guests, some of the ticket buyers and even some of the organizers!

If any of that is true, we’ll see what the Kinsmen Club of Saskatoon does to change one of its big fundraisers for 2027!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!