“Every single position that it takes to run the tournament was volunteered,” said Kirstan Bodnarchuk, volunteer director for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
This year, a record 525 people dedicated time to the tournament from directors and team leaders to daily volunteers.
“It wouldn’t happen without them, I don’t know how much more we can stress that,” said marketing director Doug Cain.
The volunteers prepared everything from the parade and site setup to painting and putting up banners. They also ran the tourney by selling tickets, manning booths, running errands and making last-minute adjustments.
“Some of our volunteers spent probably 100 hours. The average person spent about 15 to 20 hours,” said Bodnarchuk.
About 30 team leaders had been working for two months before the tournament even started in preparation for the big event.
“I was amazed, I was overwhelmed typing up all the names and I saw how many people we had helping,” said Bodnarchuk.
The 12 directors, who worked all year in preparation for the Championship are still putting in time and have already begun gearing up for next year.
“Basically it’s a year-round thing. As we were going through this year’s events we were taking notes for next year . . . it’s already started,” said Cain.
Next year just as many volunteers will be needed, if not more.
“Thanks so much to the people who came and dedicated their time to the tournament,” said Bodnarchuk.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
