No... We don't throw real gophers out of a hot air balloon, but we do drop stuffed facsimiles of the cute little prairie rodent during a fun filled day of sports, games, dancing and festivities to raise funds for the Cuplex.

In 1993, the community was looking for a major fundraiser to complete our recreation complex and to date the Gopher Drop has raised over $120,000.

The idea of the gopher Drop came from a local resident as he watched the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. During that episode, the radio station personel as a promotion were throwing live turkeys out of a helicopter. As he watched this he was thinking this is a unique concept and thought what was unique to Cupar and Saskatchewan. GOPHERS!
Saskatchewan and Cupar's farm land is a hot bed for gophers, therefore "The Cupar Gopher Drop" was originated.

Each year the residents of Cupar sell tickets on numbered gophers. On the day of the drop, all the sold gophers are placed in a huge bag along with the stuffed foam gopher holes numbered to the amount of prizes that are giving away. These gophers holes represent which prize the numbered gopher that fall closest to will win.

The bag is then attached to the hot air balloon. The balloon is launched from the ground with all the gophers and holes on board. Once the balloon reaches it's appropriate altitude, the bag is opened, releasing the gophers and holes free falling to the ground. Once all the gophers and holes land on the the ground, they are checked to see which numbered gopher landed closest to which numbered gopher hole. The gopher that landed nearest to hole number 1 wins the grand prize, the gopher closest to hole numbered 2 wins second prize, and so on.

The Cupar Gopher Drop has entertained people from far and wide with a day of entertainment on the sports grounds with kid's games/rides, bingo, ball tournament, beer gardens, concessions and a dance to end the evening.

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townofcupar@sk.sympatico.ca