Fort Frances wins bid to host provincial men’s curling showdown

FORT FRANCES—Fort Frances will host the Northern Ontario men’s curling championships next February, the Times has learned.
“We’re going to see the best of Northern Ontario curlers here in Fort Frances,” said committee chairman Tom Fry.
“There’ll be 16 teams, and over a full week of curling with approximately four draws a day, they’ll whittle that down to one final team that’ll go to the Brier,” he added.
The tentative dates are Feb. 9-16, 2009.
Little will need to change in terms of infrastructure as bleachers for extra seating were prepared for the local club when it hosted the Ontario Scott Tournament of Hearts back in February, 2006.
Fry said Fort Frances’ success in hosting that tournament no doubt was key in landing the men’s showdown, and that fans should expect an event similar in size and scope.
“I think it’s probably going to be about the same,” he remarked.
“The women’s is an all-Ontario event, and there is more interest from southern Ontario obviously than there will be in this one, but I’m sure the media attention will be similar.”
The only major difference is how the media will cover the event, noted Fry, which will include delayed local TV broadcasts, an in-house TV feed, online reporting of events, and, hopefully, a live camera broadcasting to the Internet.
The event may be under more scrutiny with big-league curling on everyone’s minds, with not only the Brier but a spot in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver potentially at stake here.
Curling fans should be aware this event won’t be coming back to Fort Frances anytime soon as the provincials cycle through six different sections in Northern Ontario each year.
And because the curling club won the spot over a competing bid from Sioux Lookout this year, it won’t be eligible the next swing around—meaning it could be at least a dozen years before Fort Frances gets another chance to host the event.
There are still plenty of details to be worked out, and news only broke to the board in a meeting Tuesday night, but Fry said everyone in Rainy River District should look forward to this rare chance to host such an event.
“This is as big as it gets for this area,” he said.