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Hats off to everyone involved in curling provincials in Quesnel

Our little city made a big impact last week as hosts of the 2019 B.C. Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships.
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Our little city made a big impact last week as hosts of the 2019 B.C. Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships.

We only heard good things day after day as we spoke to athletes, spectators and volunteers at the West Fraser Centre while covering the provincial championships. It was exciting to be part of the first time the men’s and women’s provincial curling championships were held together, and, by all accounts, it was a huge success.

I think we proved we can host major events like this — and host them very, very well.

Our community rolled out the red carpet for the visiting curlers (and of course for our own Team Waffle), and they seemed to genuinely appreciate the support and attention.

The community should be proud. I think we stepped up and left everyone with a great impression of our city. The facilities were always top-notch, and people seemed happy and friendly wherever you went.

One thing that (still) really stands out from the week is that more than 170 people volunteered. All these people gave up their time and came back to the arena day after day after day to ensure this event was a success — and they did it with a smile on their faces. It’s an impressive number, and I think it says a lot about who we are. We’re people who get behind what we believe in. We’re hard workers. We’re generous.

It will be interesting to see where this leads.

City of Quesnel staff are working on a staff report to bring to council later this month that will provide information about how many people came here, how much money they spent and the general impact of hosting the curling provincials.

I hope the numbers that come out of hosting the provincials are as positives as the feelings. I know many businesses invested in making this work through sponsorships and providing gifts for the teams, and I hope they feel they saw economic benefits as well.

Hats off to everyone involved in the provincials, whether it was as a volunteer, committee member, staff member, sponsor or spectator. You should be proud of playing a part in helping put Quesnel on the map for major sporting events.

I know Curl BC, the governing body for curling in our province, was very happy with how everything went in Quesnel last week, so hopefully more curling will come our way. And more hockey, more figure skating, more lacrosse. You name it. We’ve proven we can host it.

— Lindsay Chung