Dan Falloon
The times are a-changin’ for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
The biggest difference for this year’s event, scheduled for July 18-24, is that the tournament’s main hub is moving from the Sorting Gap Marina to the Memorial Sports Centre.
“It’s going to be a big change, moving from the original site on the waterfront to the arena,” admitted FFCBC chairman Tom Fry.
“[But] we’ve got things on track at this point.”
Fry said the most notable challenge associated with the move is going to be adjusting to the new surroundings. However, the new venue will save time and money since the set-up requirements will be reduced.
“It’s a lot less in the way of set-up from the other site, where we had to set up the big tent,” noted Fry.
“That’s all going to be taken care of with the arena building,” he explained.
The committee already has a basic design of how the space is going to be used, with both the Ice For Kids and ’52 Canadians arenas slated to see action.
“We’re going to be using both ice surfaces, the Ice For Kids Arena is going to be our entertainment area and our main bar,” Fry remarked.
“The Fort Frances [’52] Canadians Arena is going to be where we’ll be doing weigh-ins.”
Fry added the arena auditorium is being looked at as a hub for children’s hub during the day.
The FFCBC committee has set a target of 125 entries for this year’s tournament, and is hoping anglers will come forward as fishing starts to enter the consciousness again as the weather heats up.
“We’re still lacking some entries, and hoping those will come forward in the next month or so,” Fry remarked.
If that target is reached, the format of the tournament will remain at five flights of 25 boats, as it was last year.
“The format for the competition is going to be exactly the same as last year, with 125 boats going out in five flights,” Fry said.
“On the second day, the flight orders will reverse as it was last year,” he added.
On the entertainment side of the ledger, the FFCBC committee is looking to land a proverbial big fish to anchor Friday night’s festivities, but can’t report any names yet.
“We’ve got our entertainment man trying to find a top-notch entertainer for the Friday evening [July 23], but that hasn’t been confirmed yet,” Fry noted.
However, a pair of events that were not part of last year’s festival are either confirmed or in the mix to be resurrected.
The “Quest for the Best” talent show is a go for this year’s bass tournament after being held separately in 2009 while plans for the boat parade—scrapped last July after a low turnout in 2008—are on the table if there is enough interest.
“The ‘Quest for the Best’ is coming back to the fish derby, and that’s going to be held on the Thursday night [July 22],” Fry confirmed.
As for the boat parade, Fry noted the proposed route would run from the old CN station on Fourth Street West to the Memorial Sports Centre.
“After one year of absence, we’re looking at reinstituting the boat parade on the Wednesday evening [July 21],” he noted.
“We’d just have to make an application to the town to set up the boat parade again,” he explained. “It’s just a matter of setting up the route and, of course, getting the anglers to participate again.
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem because quite a number of them were upset that we didn’t have it [the boat parade] last year.”
Fry also confirmed the MuchMusic Video Dance for teens again will be a part of the bass tournament on the Tuesday evening (July 20), and is slated to take place in the Ice For Kids Arena.
He added the committee is looking to keep with the tradition of featuring a local band on the Saturday night (July 24) to wrap up the tournament.
Meanwhile, another important aspect of the FFCBC—sponsorship—also seems on track, with Lund Boats and Canada Safeway both having renewed their sponsorships in recent weeks.
“We’re happy to say that we’ve got a number of our major sponsors already on board,” enthused Fry.
“Safeway is sponsoring the ‘KidPro’ [which] will be going on the Sunday [July 18],” he noted.
