Mitch Calvert
The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship got a surprising shot-in-the-arm last week in the form of a $41,250 grant from the provincial government.
It was part of an $11-million investment in “Celebrate Ontario 2009,” which helps support community events across Ontario.
“We’ve applied for it three years in a row, and we hadn’t received anything before this, so it’s obviously a nice surprise,” FFCBC chairman Tom Fry enthused.
“The rules state that the funding is to enhance programming in order to attract more tourists to the area, so in our particular case, we’re looking at the majority of the money going to enhance the nighttime entertainment and the daytime programming,” he noted.
Much of the nighttime entertainment already has been booked, including Kim Mitchell on the Thursday night, with Fry saying the committee would be releasing a full entertainment schedule in the coming weeks once everything has been finalized.
“There will definitely be more inflatables for the kids, and a couple of other things we’re still looking into, but we don’t want to release that until it’s all confirmed,” he stressed.
The committee was hoping to attract 150 teams for the 15th anniversary of the bass tournament, but it’s currently holding steady at 130.
“We’re still hoping more will come in, but with this downturn in the economy and what’s going on with Abitibi, it could be a bad scene,” Fry conceded.
“The inquiries have been trickling in so it might just happen still.”
The prize board, originally based on 150 teams, called for a total of $127,500, representing an 85 percent payback based on the $1,000 (Cdn.) entry fee per team.
“We couldn’t add [the grant money] to the prize board, that was an absolute no-no,” Fry noted.
Despite the good news, the FFCBC committee is continuing with its plans to cut back on some of the activities leading into the three days of fishing, including the boat parade which normally runs on the Wednesday night.
“Primarily it’s part of the whole aspect of trying to cut things down,” Fry explained.
“Last year there was a limited number of anglers who took part, smallest number we ever had, and we haven’t been drawing the crowds down to the tent for the boat parade, which was ideally what we were wanting to achieve.”
Instead, a closed event for angles and sponsors is scheduled for that night.
Meanwhile, the “Quest for the Best” singing competition won’t be a part of the bass tournament schedule this year, either, although the Thursday-Saturday entertainment slate will remain largely intact.
“Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be full bore with the fishing during the day, weigh-ins in the afternoon, and the nighttime entertainment,” Fry noted.
This year’s tournament, set for July 19-25, will begin selling weekend passes at the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce’s home and leisure show slated May 1-2 at the Memorial Sports Centre.
The provincial grant—originally slated at $9 million but boosted to $11 million when it was announced last week—will go to support more than a dozen events in Northwestern Ontario, including the Dudley-Hewitt Cup in Schreiber this week.
