30 October 2024
Community spirit brings the Pan Continental Championships to life
“We really wanted this to be a community event, not just a curling event.”
These are the words of Chantelle Bowman, Co-Chair of the Local Organising Committee that has put together the 2024 Pan Continental Championships in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.
Everywhere visitors turned at these championships, the community involvement was obvious – even down to just the cheery “hellos” from the locals to the out-of-towners. So maybe, the organisers have succeeded in their aim.
While many individuals and organisations have contributed to the Lacombe welcome, the Lacombe Curling Club and its members have been pivotal in setting the tone of this event. For example, on arrival at the venue, every one of the 35 teams taking part was greeted by Al Winslow, Sponsorship Chair, and Gwen Farnsworth, to be handed an envelope containing what Al euphemistically described as “walk-about money” donated by the club to help them with their costs while they were in town.
Al added, “it was most appreciated by the teams”, and this was confirmed by Australian women’s skip Helen Williams, who said that, after their fund-raising efforts to get to Lacombe, some of her team members were in tears to be on the receiving end of such an unexpected gesture. And the Australians were not alone in being touched by this generosity.
But Al and Gwen’s surprise envelopes weren’t the only gift to participants. All the officials and delegates were handed a Lacombe welcome pack with their accreditations, courtesy of the City authority and Lacombe Tourism. The contents of this pack included some personal items, such as vacuum cups and socks, but also several discount vouchers for items such as snacks, coffees and more. Al explained how this came about, saying, “Lacombe Tourism and the City of Lacombe contributed to the welcome goodie bag. Lacombe Tourism called on a lot of businesses, who put in vouchers and coupons.”
Among the dignitaries at the Opening Ceremony was the proud Mayor of Lacombe Grant Creasey, and he too was full of praise for the way the curlers and the community had engaged with the event.
“We want to showcase Lacombe and our businesses” he said, adding, “this is a tremendous opportunity for Lacombe to reach out to the world and welcome them with open arms.
“We’ve hosted some impressive events and festivals over the years, and it always amazes me how people here come together for a cause to make it a success. I have no reason to doubt this will be the same and will be an overwhelming success.”
And highlighting that special Lacombe friendliness, he said, “you’ll be very well received wherever you go, which is to be expected from the people of Lacombe. I genuinely mean it to say that our people are exceptionally friendly and helpful – it’s been a wonderful experience so far!” Incidentally, practising what he preaches, Mayor Creasey had spent the previous day driving World Curling TV cameraman Matt Haughn around the city as Matt shot scenic views to be used in World Curling’s broadcasts.
The involvement of local people and businesses has spread far and wide, and another outstanding example came in the form of local craft brewery firm Blindman Brewing. Their products are available at the venue and throughout the city. To celebrate the championships, Brewery co-founder Hans Doef decided that, during the event, 50 cents from every Blindman Brewing pint or can sold was to be donated to the local Lacombe Food Bank – an organisation that has been providing essentials to those who need them in the community for over 30 years.
Blindman Brewing was established in 2015, with product sold throughout Alberta in nearly 1200 bars, restaurants and liquor stores, and it is the most awarded brewery in Canada.
Hans Doef says, “we’re very happy to be involved with the Pan Continental Curling Championships. We are honoured to be part of it and to welcome people from throughout the world into our community. The restaurants and bars really came together to celebrate this event as well, and through our small efforts we’ll hopefully make an impact at our local Lacombe Food Bank at this important time of the year.”
Event Co-Chair and Curling Club President Chantelle Bowman was glad to give some detailed background to the extent of involvement across the Lacombe community.
She said, “we have over 250 volunteers on this event. There’s a variety of people involved – a huge number from our membership, but we have other local people involved who just wanted to be a part of this community. Also, we have a few more coming in from further afield. There have been lots of manhours, in fact for one of our grants, it was calculated that the value of the volunteer effort and time was over $500,000.”
She added, “there are three of us working together as Co-Chairs, trying to each work in areas of our strengths. We knew we could make this happen if we all banded together, but we’ve also had great support from the city and other community partners, such as Echo Energy – they are a huge community driver who wanted to bring this event here.”
Chantelle was quick to say thanks. “We’re so grateful to all the volunteers who have put in the effort to make it happen” and she acknowledged another community involvement – the members of the 4-H Kick-Boxing Club and their parents, whose contribution has been to clear up the garbage generated at the event every day.
She said, “it’s been neat planning this, but it’s been really amazing seeing it come to life with everyone’s work in the last week”.
Which brings us to the next point…would she do it all again?
“After a bit of a break, I could be persuaded. I think the Club members feel the same way. Now that they’ve seen the arena come to fruition, and seen the curlers playing, and understanding how big an event this is, I think they’d want to do it again.”
Given the experience of this event, there is little doubt that the curling family would also be happy for Lacombe to do it again sometime in the not-too-distant future.
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