It is the end of an era for a slo-pitch tournament that has been a regular fixture in Taber in August for a quarter century.
This weekend’s Lon Ferguson Memorial Slo-Pitch Tournament will mark the 25th anniversary of the tournament, and the last year for it under the Lon Ferguson Memorial Society.
“It has sort of run its course. It’s been great. It has been good for everyone involved whether it be the teams, the volunteers or our scholarship recipients,” said Rob Kanomata, a member of the memorial society and co-organizer for the slo-pitch tournament.
“All the organizers are getting a little older and a little longer in the tooth. We are all at a point where our kids are taking up a lot of different things and everybody has their different directions they are starting to go.”
The tournament started simply enough as friends and family of Lon Ferguson, a fixture on the Taber sports scene in baseball and hockey, as a way to remember the man who was lost to a tragic car accident.  
At the time, organizers did not know so many amateur sporting organizations over the years would benefit from Lon’s memory, a man who loved his sports.
“It was all geared towards amateur sport. We’ve donated from your five and six year olds playing minor hockey all the way up to people having gone to world championships with everything in-between,” said Kanomata.
“All we wanted to do the first year was get together and share some memories and it has gone from that to now. There was no original plan to go 25 years, it just turned into that.”
The 25th Long Ferguson Memorial Slo-Pitch Tournament will mark the official commissioning of the third ball diamond out at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park with Ferguson’s name on it, with the opening ceremonies on 11:45 a.m. on Saturday. There will be 25-year gifts given out to participants along with the beer gardens being moved out to Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park, with games being played at both Confederation Park and Ken McDonald for the 21-team field playing on five diamonds. There will be a function held at the Oilmen’s Club on Saturday night with closing ceremonies on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park.
Games start at 8 a.m. on Saturday with the last games of the day for the 5-and-5 format slated for 5:15 p.m. Play resumes on Sunday at 8 a.m. with the “A” final going by itself at 5 p.m. at the Lon Ferguson memorial diamond at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park. The signature fun competition for each team that has a different theme each year will once again be run, being moved out to Ken McDonald right after opening ceremonies.
“We wanted to move everything out there to celebrate the commissioning of the diamond,” said Kanomata, who added the majority of this year’s fundraising will go towards the memorial diamond. “I’m sad that it’s going to be over, but on the same note we have done a lot in the 25 years. I’d like to end it on a high note and I think we are. We’d like to thank all the past and present members (of the memorial society), all the teams that have been involved and all the volunteers and sponsors. The tournament has been made easier because of them.”