The three vice-chairs of the recent highly successful World Women's Curling Championship were honoured by City Council last night for delivering a world-class product and putting North Bay on the global stage.
Rick Miller, Mark Brown and Dave Bennett were presented with plaques in recognition of their significant contribution in bringing the championship to the city.
Each member of council personally thanked the men and the hundreds of volunteers for the work they did on behalf of curling and the city.
"Three local champions and 401 volunteers put North Bay on the global map, there were 150 million viewers. And I think it was how the community responded to all the athletes and the respect that they were shown that really matters. The amount of email's I've received from people across the country saying how proud they were to be Canadians from seeing what North Bay did, I think speaks to the three gentlemen, the volunteers, and our city staff who all did such a tremendous job," said Mayor Al McDonald.
"I don't think there's been a bigger event in our local history and it's something we can celebrate."
The week-long event set a record for the highest attendance at any World Women's Curling Championship held in Canada.
"I had an opportunity to take the President of the World Curling Federation from Scotland, the President of the American Federation from Alaska, and the President of the Canadian Curling Association on a tour of the city," said vice-chair Rick Evans who spoke to council on behalf of all three vice-chairs.
"They were intrigued and impressed with our city and the amenities we have to offer. All three want to come back in the summertime and enjoy our hospitality at that time of year," said Miller.
He went on to tell council that the comments they received from around the world were positive, and the teams 'had nothing but great things to say about the city, and how they were treated.'
"The other great thing about the event I think is it truly brought North Bay together as a community, in a positive manner. Everybody, whether they're curling fans or not bought into it, took pride in it. I think we can take that as one of the best positive things about it. We really showed that North Bay has pride in itself and can do a great job, and show the world that this is a great place, that we're great people, and we're great hosts."
Councillor George Maroosis recounted a conversation he had with a gentleman earlier in the day, who explained how the event gave him an attitude adjustment.
"He is not a hockey fan, and was not a fan of the Memorial Gardens renovation, but who in fact got some tickets and went to the curling event. He said he felt proud to be from North Bay, as he was sitting there. And he said now when he drives by Memorial Gardens, he now feels good about that project. So you gentlemen have changed a lot of minds. The wind of positivity swept into the community and we can't put a price on that, so thank you very much."
When not at the arena, people filled the North Bay Granite Club, known for the week as the Patch, enjoying live entertainment, food, and drink.
Vice-chair Mark Brown says the PADDLE program, the Granite Club, and the local curling community will benefit from the financial legacy.
"The fact that there will be roughly $165,000 coming into the coffers of the Granite Club is tremendous. A large part will be for junior curling, to secure that for the future of curling in North Bay. But there's also the legacy of knowing what we can do with our facility. In order to host this event, we had to put in two double door fire exits on either side at the back end of the building. We were successful in getting a grant from the Ontario government in order to do that.," explained Brown.
"It increased our capacity on the ice surface from about 180 people to 800 people. So that's what gives us the ability to host different events. The transformation that it went through to host this event, was something I could never picture myself. But when I saw it, it just opened up a lot of opportunities to host events at our facility in the future. We're looking at the potential for musical events, hosting conventions and large dinners. Now that we can accept that kind of business. The possibilities are endless."
It will take a few more months before the financials are tallied and a final report is made available.
"Our event manager is working on things and we'll get everything finalized by the end of the summer," said Miller.
"The whole budget for the event locally, excluding television advertising, was just under two and a half million dollars. We had budgetary amounts in terms of ticket sales values and sponsorship values, and we far exceeded all of those. We know it was very successful, it's just getting the final numbers."
