THUNDER BAY – The bid is in and an organizer behind the city’s attempt to land the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts says she’s confident Thunder Bay has shown Curling Canada they’ve got what it takes to host the national women’s curling championship.
Diane Imrie on Friday said response to a community survey was overwhelmingly positive, with more than 1,300 people taking part.
“We had a 97 per cent approval rate of yes, we want the Scotties. It’s going to be an exciting event and we couldn’t believe the success of that little campaign,” Imrie said.
“One of the questions we asked was would you volunteer? Seven-hundred-and-ninety-four people said they would. Thunder Bay is a volunteer town for sure.”
When it came to whether or not the public was hungry for tickets to the event, last held in the city in 1996, again the response was stronger than expected.
“Twelve-hundred people said that they would buy either a full package – almost half of that said they would buy a full event package – or single tickets or weekend passes as well,” Imrie said.
Additionally, 85 businesses stepped up and said they would be willing to take part in a sponsorship deal, another key that should look good in the eyes of the national governing body, who will inform the local organizing committee this fall if they’ve won the bid.
At this point, Imrie said they’re not sure which other communities, if any at all, are in the competition.
A quick Google search doesn’t turn up any other news articles, besides Thunder Bay, about communities in the hunt, although some larger communities might not have needed to go to the media as part of their bid preparation.
Bids are due on June 29, but Imrie said Thunder Bay decided to submit a day early.
“We’re going to see what happens,” she said.
If successful, the event will come with a minimum $400,000 hosting fee, which has been requested to be drawn from the Community Economic Development Commission’s share of the municipal accommodation tax.
The bid committee will learn in late September if it was the successful bidder, and a public announcement is expected in mid-October.
The event would be held at Fort William Gardens and the Fort William Curling Club, if the bid is accepted.
