Kim Mitchell will be at Mosaic Stadium for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ home opener on Friday night.
She can hardly wait.
Mitchell, a Regina realtor, is looking forward to the Roughriders’ looming CFL game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a halftime show featuring her namesake — a Canadian rock legend who is well-known for hits such as “Go For A Soda” and “Patio Lanterns.”
Kim Mitchell, musician, is to appear as part of the Roughriders’ Pepsi Summer Concert Series.
“When I first saw that he was going to be here for this game, I thought, ‘I should go,’ ” the Queen City’s Mitchell recalled.
“I saw the name posted on social media and thought, ‘Oh … me?’ ”
So there she was at the Roughriders’ ticket office on Wednesday, picking up two seats for the matchup against Winnipeg.
The game, which is to kick off Father’s Day weekend, has an accompanying Dad’s Night Out theme.
It will, however, be Mom’s Night Out for Mitchell, who is taking her daughter (Lindsay) to the game/concert.
Kim’s son, Ryan Mitchell, is a DJ at 94.3 The GOAT in Prince George, B.C.
“Ryan will go on the air and say, ‘We’re going to call the Kim Mitchell,’ ” our own Kim Mitchell said. “The next thing I know, he’s got me on the air.”
When she’s on the line at any time, it can get interesting.
There was the time, for example, when her then-husband — Don, a member of the Royal Canadian Navy — was posted to Halifax.
One of Kim’s first steps was to set up utilities for the Mitchells’ new home in Nova Scotia. The first of a series of calls did not proceed very smoothly.
“The girl on the phone would not believe that Kim Mitchell was my name,” the very same Kim Mitchell recalled with a chuckle.
“I needed to get all that stuff done. I said, ‘We just got off the plane and this is going to be my home for a while.’ ”
Home was eventually Duncan, B.C., which was also far-removed from Don and Kim’s families in Manitoba.
It was a long drive — and one ferry ride — from Vancouver Island to Manitoba for one visit with relatives, but the pull of the prairies was all-powerful. There was the accompanying attraction of a Roughriders home game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
“My husband was on his summer holidays,” Mitchell recalled. “I was on my summer job at a soap shop.
“Don looked at me and said, ‘If you quit your job, we could make the Rider game in Regina.’ So we literally packed up the car and drove to my workplace. I handed in my keys and we went straight to the ferry.
“We drove right through to get to Regina. We pulled up to the old stadium just as the game was starting. We heard the crowd roar and went to our seats.
“That was our first experience as Rider fans.”
But far from the last, considering that the family moved to Regina in 2008.
The next year, Kim was introduced to then-Roughriders offensive line coach Bob Wylie while the two of them were in a lineup at a Rochdale Boulevard grocery store. Kim happened to mention that her son was an ardent Roughriders fan and the veteran coach responded by inviting Ryan to practice.
Very soon, he was hanging out with Wylie at old Mosaic Stadium. In fact, Kim’s son even watched game film with the veteran coach, who passed along an outdated playbook as a gift to a youngster who was then an offensive lineman in the Regina Minor Football ranks.
“It was a beautiful experience for my son,” a proud mom said. “I can’t say enough about the Roughriders and how welcoming they’ve always been. It’s such a good environment for the kids.”
Not to mention the Kims.
“Everybody always asks me about my name,” Mitchell said. “People will ask me any random question about patio lanterns or whether I’m going for a soda or something.”
She has shown clients more than a few patios during a successful career as a realtor.
Even in that capacity, there is a Roughriders tie of note.
Let’s rewind to Nov. 23, 2013 — the day before Saskatchewan defeated Hamilton 45-23 in the 101st Grey Cup game, played at historic Mosaic Stadium.
Page 96 of the Regina Leader-Post was devoured by a RE/MAX Joyce Tourney Realty ad, in which the company congratulated the 2013 Roughriders on “a Great Year!” and wished them well in the looming Grey Cup game.
One of the employees pictured in the expansive advertisement was the real-estate firm’s client care manager, Kim Mitchell.
Now with eXp Realty, she works closely with Ryan Bender and the Bendz Real Estate Group.
In that spirit, Regina’s Kim Mitchell would love to see the Roughriders take some big plays to the house on Friday night.
And then, of course, there is the matter of the halftime show, during which she most certainly will not go for a soda.
