The Westlock Curling Club is in the initial stages of putting together a bid to host the 2020 provincial men’s curling championships, also known as the Boston Pizza Cup.
Curling club president Paula Clark, along with members Mike Taylor, John Vandenborn and Stephane Gervais made a presentation to Westlock town council at its Feb. 25 meeting, in the hopes of gaining the town’s support before submitting their bid to host the tournament.
“We were approached again and highly encouraged by Alberta Curling to host the 2020 Boston Pizza Cup here in Westlock,” Clark said.
She told council the ice surface at the Rotary Spirit Centre would need to be occupied for setup and teardown from Jan. 31 to Feb. 10 with the actual event running from Feb. 5-9.
Sportsnet has also indicated its interest in televising the semifinals and finals of the championship tournament, said Clark.
The curling club recently voted in favour of pursuing the event and has been reaching out to user groups who would be affected.
Clark said the club has received positive feedback and blessings from many of them, though there are still a few they have not heard back from yet.
Having successfully hosted the event in 2017, mayor Ralph Leriger asked what would be different this time around.
“I think it would be a lot easier because we would know what we need, how many volunteers we would need. We’ve learned a few things about what worked and what didn’t work well and we’re going to apply that going forward. I think everything went well last time,” said Clark.
“I think we’ve all heard a lot of very, very positive feedback,” said Leriger.
Another upside to hosting, said Clark, is that Curling Alberta has dropped its hosting fee completely, which will save the club upwards of $12,000.
As far as the town’s contribution goes, Clark said she was hoping for the same half-price facility rentals as they saw in 2017, but an official ask of the town won’t be made until further down the line.
CAO Dwight Dibben, who wasn’t here at the time of the 2017 event, was curious as to how many volunteers came forward and how many were actually needed.
Clark replied there were actually probably too many volunteers last time, with a few on the waiting list.
“It was all local volunteers last time. We had 170-plus and I’m sure we won’t need that many this year. We found we probably had too many, which is better than not enough,” said Clark.
“We had a strong volunteer base and I can’t see us not having that kind of support again.”
The 2017 event was a boon to the economy of the town, Clark said, with players and staff staying in local hotels and eating at local restaurants. She expects the 2020 event would benefit the town in the same way.
“It was tough to find a room in town that week. It was pretty full,” said Clark.
“It was a super event and it received really, really positive feedback about the facility and about the organizing group,” said Leriger.
“It’s a great opportunity to showcase the facility. There’s definitely some opportunities there for us.”
