National Firefighters Curling Championships start this week
March 11, 2024, 8:34 am
Ashley Bochek
Moosomin is hosting the Canadian Firefighters Curling Championships, starting this week and running March 15-24.
Moosomin Recreation Director Mike Schwean says a lot of work has been done by a lot of people in preparation for this event.
The organizing committee is made up of local volunteers formed after Dale Nixon took the initiative to bring the event to Moosomin.
“There are probably three or four curlers in town curling in it. Dale Nixon was the one elected to the National Firefighters Curling board and bringing this event to Moosomin is something he was interested in and pursued. It is a Dale Nixon initiative. There is about 12 of us on the committee—Myself, Patti-Jo Nixon, Dale Nixon, Peter Nabholz, Graham Mannle, Sandra Garrett, Owen Frape, Jeff Warkentin, Samantha Felsing, Casey McCormac, and Rob Hanson.
“The Moosomin Moose is the group hosting the event, we did everything under the Moose name. Our committee is made up of representatives of Economic Development, Recreation, the Curling Club.”
Moosomin smallest centre to host national event
Schwean says this is the first time this curling event has been held in a small town.
“It’s been hosted mostly in cities before. Next year it is in Calgary. This is the first time they have done it in a small town. The rest are all cities, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary. They were out on the East Coast last year and it is a little different because they curl and then their hotels were a ways away, but here everything is close. I think it will work really good for the community and the curlers.”
He says a lot of work has gone into planning this event by the committee and local volunteers.
“There has been a lot of hours put into it. It is quite detailed like something you wouldn’t think about for example, drivers and vehicles. We have to have drivers and vehicles for each team and buses to pick them up. That was another difference to is if they were in Fredericton they just hoped in a cab and were at the rink or their hotel.”
“Here, we have to get to the airport in Regina plus drive them back and some teams don’t come until later so it is a lot of planning. It is a pretty intensive week with a fair amount of planning.”
He said lots of volunteers will be involved in the event.
“There are a lot of volunteers, so that has been good. I think they are good with all their drivers, all the nights are sponsored so it is good.
“Thee has been good support from the community—when they went out to do the program they were hoping they would get $20,000 and I think they’re at about $30,000-$35,000 now so that is obviously really good.”
Schwean says the funds raised from the event will be distributed among multiple causes.
“There were four pillars, Muscular Dystrophy, the CT Scanner, Fire Department, and the Curling Club.
“There were different agreements made for example the curling club would charge for the venue, but then they would get some of the funds back. Our goal is to raise $20,000 to $50,000. There are a lot of expenses going into this event, but we have a lot of support from the town and businesses.”
The curling draws, entertainment and Silent Auction are open to the public throughout the week.
“There will be a Silent Auction at the venue. I think it goes on all week during the events there. Anyone can bid on the Silent Auction. Same with the meals, there are meals at the Convention Centre every day and those aren’t open to the pubic, but all the other things are open to the public. The entertainment, auction, the curling draft. That will be pretty cool. We have Rhett Parks as auctioneer and Darren Dupont with the Rod Pederson show as the MC.”
Schwean says there are a few last-minute preparation before the event begins.
“We have to make sure they get all the vehicles in place, all the itenerary done, and all the stuff set up at the Convention Centre. They hired Cory Turpie to do the ice again so he is going to come in and do all the major maintenance this weekend and starting next week, melting it down and building it back up. Sandra is really busy with meals to so it is a lot of work, but going to be really cool. I’ve never been involved in anything like this and think it is cool like for example, a lot of the different nights the team picks the meal with a flavour to their province. So, the Atlantic teams said lobsters, I think Saskatchewan is baby back ribs. It is all different for each province so it makes for quite a chore for Sandra. She cooks it all. She is cooking the meals every night.”
“There are about 11 teams and Dale figures about 100 people in total and the executives so probably about 120 people coming to town. Then the next weekend is our Carded Hockey tournament and there is about eight teams for that, so it will be a zoo. I know we have hockey teams staying in Virden and maybe one in Brandon because we don’t have enough room in our hotels. That is as close they can get.”
Vehicles are provided by local dealerships for the teams transportation.
“Rob found all the volunteers for the drivers—that was a big job. It is a long time like 10 days, so there were a couple times he would find someone and then there was a day they couldn’t make it so he would have to find others. That to me would probably be one of the biggest jobs, finding drivers and vehicles. Celebration, Bradley’s, Dodge, and Todd Davidson are offering some of their vehicles for drivers. I think that was probably the biggest job.”
Mike hopes to host future events like this for the town of Moosomin.
“I think Moosomin would host something like this again. We are trying to become more of a destination, but we’re running into a lack of hotel rooms. This worked out really good and the hotels were really good to us.
“It came together better than I thought, but Dale has a lot of experience. He knew exactly what was going on and that was good.
“I always think these events are huge for future possibilities you don’t even know about. People talk and share their experience with the town. These events are impactful. All these things are great.”
