The Marysburg Royals turned 100 this season, and to celebrate their historic milestone, the club is holding a reunion celebration the weekend of July 13-15.
Approximately 260 former members of the Royals family are expected back over the course of the weekend, with some members of the family dating back to their playing days in the 1940s.
“That in itself is pretty special. That would be my grandfather’s generation and I know there’s a few of them coming… So we’re going back as far as we can,” said longtime Royal Curtis Strueby.
While the reunion is to celebrate 100 years of the club, Strueby said that they wanted to include everyone who has made a difference over the last 100 years of Royals baseball, which is why the club opened their weekend up to the whole Royals family.
“It’s what we’re about in Marysburg. We’re tiny and tight-knit so anybody who’s lived there in the past and came to games and watched and supported or even was just a part of it in any which way we decided come back and celebrate with us. They deserve it,” he said.
“It’s much more than the players, it’s wives and kids and parents and mothers and fathers of players. They ump, they scorekeep, they work in the booth, concession in our games. The wives, they take care of the kids during the games. There’s just so many things that go into it.”
Being able to bring as many former members of the Royals family home for the reunion is great, says Strueby, who said it will be cool to see some old faces.
“It’s going to be pretty special. Just to kind of look back and see some of the older generations and some of the faces I remember as a kid and then seeing some of the generation even before my dads. There’s unfortunately not a lot of them left but the one’s that are left there are some coming,” he said.
“If you think about it 100 years is a long time and it’s going to be a lot of pride and a lot of reminiscing going on so it should be pretty good.”
While Strueby looks forward to seeing as many of the old faces, he did note many are unable to attend, some of them because they are attending provincial baseball with their own children, which is cool, said Strueby because they are still finding their way to the ball diamond.
The reunion weekend has been a long time coming for the Royals, who have planned an exciting weekend for the Royals family, including an informal evening of registration on July 13.
July 14 will see the bulk of the action pick up with a concession stand open from approximately 11 am to 3 pm, the Royals are set to host the Saskatoon Stallions at 12 p.m., and old timer slo pitch game will follow the Royals’ league contest, then a supper and reception will follow.
Children’s entertainment, including a bouncy castle has also been booked.
The final day of the reunion will see gospel mass at 10:30 am, brunch at 11:30 am, and a social and wind up at 12:00 pm.
The slo pitch contest will add an interesting aspect of the weekend, with Strueby saying it will be a good chance for the players to get back into the dugouts with one another and reminisce.
“We just decided who ever wants to play can… I’m sure the people taking part would like to get back on the field and in the same dugout again together and hang out and have a few laughs and see if they can still swing a bat and throw and run. I know some of them can so it’s just a nice little event to have out there during the day.”
If anyone has not yet registered for the weekend and would still like to Strueby encourages those people to call him at 1-306-231-6392.
“(I’m) just looking forward to it, it’s going to be a pretty special weekend and a lot of work’s going to go into it so a big thank you to everybody who’s coming and helping out to put it on for sure.”
