After several months of planning, all that hard work paid off for the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship hosting committee, which brought the major championship to Moose Jaw.
Over nine days at the Temple Gardens Centre, curling fans took in some of the best curling the world has to offer, as well as the entertainment in The Patch at the Moose Jaw Curling Centre.
“I don’t know what our expectations were, but we knew it would be great. I would say that the week exceeded our expectations by a long shot. It was just amazing,” said Heather Eby, who was one of the vice-chairs of the host committee.
But it took a slew of volunteers to get this event off the ground. In the end, the committee included seven vice-chairs, about 20 directors, and 340 volunteers to pull it off.
“Our volunteers, of course, the bulk of them were from Moose Jaw. But we also had volunteers come from outside Moose Jaw, from Regina, Saskatoon, and even some from out of province, and we had two from out of the country. So, people love curling, they love these events, and they want to be a part of it,” Eby said.
She added that it wasn’t just the volunteers who went above and beyond for the world championship. Eby also acknowledged the staff at Temple Gardens Centre for going the extra mile so that everything didn’t fall entirely on the volunteers.
“There are, of course, volunteers, but then there’s also the paid staff who, even though that’s their job, still go above and beyond what’s expected of them. So, it takes everybody to do it,” Eby commented.
This isn’t Moose Jaw’s first go-around with a major curling event. The city hosted the Canada Cup of Curling in 2012, as well as the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2015 and 2020.
Eby said having that experience was a huge advantage.
“To host two Scotties before this really did help, and we had some really experienced volunteers come in, as well as a couple of experienced vice-chairs and directors. So, it really does make a difference because they know what worked last time and maybe things that didn’t work as well,” Eby said.
Eby said one of the advantages Moose Jaw has is the facility and the fact that the arena is downtown, close to many amenities, and that The Patch can be located right inside the same building.
“Curling Canada loves our building. TSN loves our building, and we are so fortunate in Moose Jaw that we have the facility that we do,” she said.
Eby hopes that this experience will result in more exciting announcements for major sporting events in the coming years.