Staff photo
A huge win for Thunder Bay with the announcement of a major curling tournament.
Curling Canada has chosen our city to host the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, February 20th to 28th, 2021. The Canadian Women’s Curling Championship will be held at the Fort William Gardens. Officials with the Fort William, Kakabeka Falls, and Port Arthur Curling Clubs spearheaded the bid.
Thunder Bay’s Katherine Henderson, the CEO of Curling Canada says “it’s a dream come true for her” to make the announcement adding organizers “are going to knock it out of the park when it comes to putting on the event I know that.”
Local curling great Krista McCarville is excited about the possibility of playing in the tournament noting “we don’t want any other team in Northern Ontario to be here, this is our city we want to be here curling.”
The $400,000 to help pay to host the tournament would be coming from the city’s hotel tax.
1996 was the last time Thunder Bay hosted the Scotties, when the Marilyn Bodogh rink of Ontario won the top prize.
The last time a Thunder Bay rink won was in 1989 in Kelowna, British Columbia. That’s when the Heather Houston rink, consisting of teammates Lorraine Lang, Diane Adams, and Tracy Kennedy, was victorious.
