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Volume 18, Issue 50 | Wed., December 10, 2025
Voltage ‘25 promises steampunk adventure, live music and chem-free fun for youth 334 High Street West, Moose Jaw
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Saskatchewan’s largest chem-free New Year’s Eve party for teens is gearing up for another massive night as Voltage ‘25 returns to Hillcrest Apostolic Church with live music, robots, puppies, and a steampunk timetravel twist. Hosted by Joe’s Place Youth Centre, Voltage runs from 8 p.m. on Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. on New Year’s Day and typically draws more than 500 youth aged 13 to 19 from Moose Jaw and area for a night of safe, sober celebration. “It’s going to be an awesome year,” said Joe’s Place founder Joe Dueck. The night will feature a returning karaoke room where contenders will vie for the title of Voltage Idol. Many popular activities are returning, including Gaga Ball, Nine Square in the Air, the puppy room, art room, and a gym filled with inflatables for the gladiator competition, where one youth will go home with a new gaming console. Fencing is also back “by popular demand,” with a returning instructor from the Saskatchewan Fencing Association. Juno Award-winning band The Color will return for concerts at midnight and 4 a.m. New this year is a large-scale “robots versus humans” game in the main auditorium. The Vanier Collegiate robotics team has built three 120-pound robots that will fire soft bazooka balls. “I was able to go into Vanier’s robotics club classroom and see all the students working on computers and designing the mechanisms to fire the balls … and aim the barrel of the firing mechanism,” Dueck said. “It was really impressive. That is a very worthwhile
Youth from the Joe’s Place Media Alliance film a desert-themed scene inside a tent set, built on the Joe’s Place dance floor and filled with sand for this year’s teaser video. Photo by: Submitted photo program in our city.” Behind the scenes, the Joe’s Place Media Alliance work-skills program has spent months developing Voltage’s creative elements. This year’s theme — steampunk, time travel, dimension travel — will feature pirates, cowboys, and dinosaurs, with security dressed as Old West sheriffs. This year’s media production is titled Covenant. “We want to remind the youth that we all make covenants,” Dueck said. “We make promises to each other to help each other or to be loyal to each other … but when the times get tough, when those promises are tested by trials and hard times, will we be people of our word? Will we be trustworthy?” Media Alliance youth built the props, carved giant foam “rocks,” learned fauxpainting and stilt-walking techniques, and shot this year’s promotional poster. Video production has been equally ambitious. To film the Voltage teaser, the team
hauled about 300 pounds of gear into the sand dunes at Douglas Provincial Park after last-minute rule changes meant no motorized vehicles could be used. “We borrowed three of those fat-tired e-bikes for sand, and then we bought three of those child-bicycle chariots … we loaded up all the gear onto those chariots and drove these e-bikes through the desert,” he recalled. “I can tell you right now, that is not something I thought I would be doing on my Saturday afternoon … but the youth will never forget it.” Sponsors continue to play a major role in keeping Voltage accessible and Joe’s Place works hard to promote all those who have helped out. K+S Potash Canada and River Street Promotions have returned as title sponsors, with support from the G. Murray and Edna Forbes Foundation and the Moffat Family Fund through the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation. Many former Joe’s Place youth now donate equipment and professional expertise through their own businesses, including Andrew Jones with JFX and Jade Tuplin with Ruggieri Lighting. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door and are available at Joe’s Place, John’s Music, Pet Valu, and Hillcrest Apostolic Church. Organizers recommend purchasing tickets well in advance. Businesses interested in sponsoring Voltage can contact Joe’s Place at 306-6935637 or Info@JPYC.org. To learn more and preview this year’s trailer video, visit “Joe’s Place Youth Centre (official)” on Facebook or Voltage-SK.com. Hillcrest Apostolic Church is located at 1550 Main Street North.