Yellowknife (Apr 12/06) - City Hall is looking for someone to run the Wade Hamer mini-putt on Franklin Avenue and a Yellowknife non-profit group hopes it will be the chosen one.

Bosco Homes, which houses children with severe behavioral disorders, officially made a pitch for the facility last fall, hoping to re-open the Yellowknife landmark laid dormant in 2005.

"It has been a useful recreation facility," Dr. Gus Rozycki, executive director of Bosco Homes, said Wednesday. "Losing that as an option would be a shame."

City Hall sent out a notice last week looking for an operator.

But officials were not available before press time to discuss what they were looking for in a contractor or when a decision would be made.

Up to 8,000 people play the course each year, according to one estimate.

It was popular with families, tourists and social welfare groups like Bosco Homes.

Rozycki said the course can only run as a non-profit enterprise.

"At the end of the day, there isn't any money there. At best you can break even," he said.

Bosco Homes is still waiting for its proposal to make its way through the system, Rozycki said.

"We'll have to wait and see, but we are still interested."

The course was built in 1990 and named after Wade Hamer, who was killed in an industrial accident.