PRINCE GEORGE – March 12, 2020. The ice was calibrated, teams were rolling into town from around the world and then? The World Women’s Curling Championships were cancelled. It was the first major event to be cancelled because of COVID.
But the events are coming back with a vengeance.
Council recently approved some financial support for the Canadian Native Fastball Championships, which was also cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“Well it’s a huge event,” says Harley Desjarlais, Chair of Canadian Native Fastball Organization Committee. “Well it’s a huge event. It’s bringing about 80 teams from across Western Canada with about 1,200 players and it brings all the fans that come along with it, too, probably. In excess of five or six thousand.”
A big shot in the arm for the local economy.
“I think the number they came up with is in excess of three million dollars to the community. And that’s going to have good, positive impacts with the merchants and hotels and restauranteurs who have really struggled over the past couple years. So we’re really excited to be able to give a boost to the local economy.”
And it isn’t the only sporting event returning to the city:
*Canadian National Biathlon Championships – March 11-17, 2022
*World Women’s Curling Championships – March 19 -27, 2022
*BC Summer Games – July 21 – 24, 2022
*Canadian Native Fastball Championships – July 29 – 31, 2022
“Obviously these events coming back is a huge step for the recovery, especially for the tourism and hospitality businesses that have been devastated by this pandemic,” says Colin Carson, CEO of Tourism Prince George. “So getting people back in the hotels, people back in restaurants , having people come from outside the community and inject money into Prince George. It really is a good news story.”
All totalled the four events will inject an estimated $11.2 million into the local economy.
“We’ve been kind of dormant for the last couple of years and we’re exciting to get this event happening and we’re also really excited to see the World Women’s Curling Championships come back and the biathlon, of course,” says Desjarlais. “The Summer Games are going be directly in front our event. So it’s going to be rally good for the local community.”
And that’s just the economic benefits of sporting events. now the work’s underway to get those big conferences back to town.
