The Smiths Falls Community Memorial Centre is Ontario’s curling hotspot this week.
It’s the site of the 2014 Travelers Tankard Ontario Men’s Curling Championship. At stake is a trip to the National Brier.
The event has brought some pretty big curling names to town, not the least of whom is four time Canadian and World Champion Glenn Howard.
Howard says Smiths Falls is perhaps one of the smaller places he’s played. But that’s just fine with him. “I love it,” says Howard. “I’m from a small town – Midland, Ontario – and I know what it’s all about. And it’s fantastic here in Smiths Falls. It seems like the whole town is coming out to support it, and it’s unreal.”
“This is the largest sporting event in the history of Smiths Falls,” says Mayor Dennis Staples. “We’re going to have 5,000 people here during the week.”
That’s no small feat for a town of just 9.000 residents. Staples credits the organizing committee and a small army of volunteers that worked for 2 years to bring the event to Smiths Falls.
Residents at the rink and around the community are embracing the tournament. “It’s the biggest thing that I can ever remember happening in Smiths Falls,” says one coffee shop patron. “We’ve been needing something like this for some time,” adds another.
For Glenn Howard, curling and small towns simply go hand in hand. “Grass roots rural Canada is really what curling is all about.”
The 2014 Travelers Tankard continues to Feb. 2nd.
