Riding the high of a successful event, the Okotoks Curling Club is mulling an invitation to host the Grand Slam of Curling Masters again in 2018.
The Masters ran in Okotoks from Oct. 25 – 30. The event was a major fundraiser and a lot of work for the Okotoks Curling Club.
Masters chairperson Ron McLaren said it went very well and though the committee knew it would be a big job initially, it ended up being even bigger than they’d imagined. It was all well worth it though, he said.
“In the end we returned in excess of well over $100,000 to our curling club,” said McLaren.
The club also made donations to Okotoks Minor Hockey and the Okotoks Oilers to thank both organizations for forfeiting their ice time. The Oilers were especially helpful in the planning and set-up, he said.
“We donated $1,000 to Okotoks Minor Hockey and $5,000 to the Okotoks Oilers,” said McLaren. “During the course of the event as well there was a donation made to the food bank for $2,000 and KidSport saw $300. So there was definitely benefit to some various organizations throughout the community as well.”
With Sportsnet knocking on the Town’s door, he said a decision will need to be made in the next two months. It will take at least 18 months to plan another event for 2018, he said.
More than 14,000 tickets were sold, almost one-third more than expected. Seat sales averaged about 80 per cent over the week, with draws from Friday through Sunday sold out, he said. More than 4,000 spectators also took in draws through the week without purchasing tickets, such as school groups who were given the opportunity to watch daytime weekday draws.
“Okotoks people and regional people really supported the event, and we were really happy about that,” he said.
Despite the event being more work than his team initially expected, he said a good team of volunteers – 300 of them – stepped up to make it a success. A lot of the volunteers were from the curling club and a good number came from the community and from out of town. One volunteer was from B.C.
“We ended up with people who just love to volunteer,” said McLaren. “We had volunteers from a wide variety of places, and all of them were really great.”
The average volunteer put in upwards of 25 to 30 hours through the week, he said.
Their hard work paid off. By the end of the week everyone was exhausted but proud of their success, he said.
In fact, the Masters in Okotoks was so successful, Sportsnet has already asked the Okotoks Curling Club whether they’d be interested in hosting it again in 2018.
“Would I do it again? That’s the big question,” said McLaren. “If the curling club decides they would like to put it on, certainly I would help out.”
He said Okotoks should definitely consider hosting the event again. The facility worked well for it and the community response was overwhelming, he said.
Though he’s not sure about taking on the role of chairperson for a second time, McLaren said it will be significantly easier the next time around.
For one thing, there are 300 trained volunteers at the club’s fingertips, he said.
“And anyone who does it can learn from the mistakes we made and pick up on the really good things we did and produce a really great event for Okotoks,” said McLaren.
Town Coun. Tanya Thorn said she hopes to see the Masters return to Okotoks. It was a great opportunity for people to get to know the sport, she said.
“It’s introducing another sport that some of our community doesn’t necessarily hear a lot about,” said Thorn. “It’s a chance for people to see first-hand what curling’s all about and the excitement that can come with it.”
She said the success of the event was a testament to both the hard work of the curling club committee and to the volunteering nature of people in Okotoks.
“Any time our community can host a world-showcased event like that and have the representatives of it have nothing but good things to say is kudos to us as a community,” said Thorn. “I would love to see it here again.”
