Curling fans will soon be descending on Lacombe for the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships this October.
The championships - set to run Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex and the Lacombe Curling Club - serve as a qualifying event for the annual world men’s and women’s championships.
There will be 37 teams from 21 countries outside of Europe playing in two divisions.
Things will kick off with an opening ceremony on the evening of Oct. 27, said Chantelle Bowman, co-chair of the event with Peter Villers.
The A Division teams will vie for positions in the 2025 Women’s and Men’s World Championships. The top two teams in the B Division earn the right to move up to A Division for the next Pan Continental while the bottom two A teams move down.
"We've been working on reaching out to local user groups, including, for example, hockey and skiing teams. We want to work with them to potentially be involved with the event as well," said Bowman.
"We are also looking at some different options for groups - we still have opportunities for groups to be involved," she said, adding they are also exploring opportunities for organizations to have 'pop-up' attractions during the course of the event as well.
"We want to show off everything that Lacombe has to offer with our different groups," she said.
Originally, the idea to put in a bid to host the event was brought to the Lacombe Curling Club by previous ice maker Darren Moulding, an award-winning curling champion in his own right.
Bowman said Moulding attended the Kelowna event and felt Lacombe would be an amazing spot as a host community. The event was held in Canada twice before - in Calgary (2022) and in Kelowna last year.
Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa and Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s will represent Canada at the championships. Both teams earned their berths by winning the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and 2024 Montana’s Brier respectively.
And as the host nation of the 2025 BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship earlier this year in Moose Jaw, Sask., Canada’s spot is guaranteed.
'"It's also going to be a social-style event, with people being able to go back and forth between the 'A' side and the 'B' side," said Bowman.
"There will be seating up in the curling club lounge to watch the 'B' side, or just to hang out and socialize with friends.
"We are trying to make it a very interactive and fun event for everyone, whether they want to be 'in the warmth', or out in the action 'in the cool', she added with a laugh.
"I also think one of the really neat things about this event is that with the two divisions, there will be curlers from all levels," she said.
"With some of the curlers on the 'B' side, this may be their fourth or fifth time ever being on the ice. So they are learning the game, too. So I think it opens up an opportunity for some very neat discussions, like say for our youth teams and their coaches to come and watch, talk strategy and learn from the event as well," she said.
Meanwhile, bringing the event together has been a truly collaborative venture.
"The event is through World Curling, so we have been working very closely with them specifically. We are also working with Curling Canada and Curling Alberta - we are using their expertise to help put on the event as well," she explained.
"It's been great! Whenever we have some questions, we reach out to them and they have provided us with so much amazing information, or they point us in the direction we need to go.
"We are super excited about it. Especially after our recent meeting with all of our sub-committee members (last week). It's been amazing to see what everyone is coming together with in terms of concepts for their various areas from the opening ceremonies to the banquet that we are putting together.
"There have also been some really cool ideas coming together in regards to highlighting our heritage, but also bringing an international flavour to Lacombe as well."
Bowman said there will be a wind-up banquet social event on Nov. 2. "We are going to have some fabulous dishes created by Milly Oak," she said, adding the event will have a laid-back feel to it.
Tickets for this event will be available soon.
In general, there are full event passes available for purchase, along with play-off tickets or round-robin tickets as well, she said.
"We are also still looking for businesses who are interested in being part of the event - there are some opportunities available, they can reach out to us through the website at www.lacombecurling.com.
There are volunteer opportunities as well.
"If anyone is interested in helping, by all means they can also reach out and we will get them connected to our team and point them in the right direction."
Again, for more about volunteer opportunities, sponsorship opportunities and tickets, head to www.lacombecurling.com.
