PRINCE GEORGE – “We were literally set up and ready to go two years ago when the world changed. It’s cool now that we’re back. It’s almost like we’re bookending it,” says Nolan Thiessen, Executive Director of Marketing and Fan Experience for Curling Canada.
Finally back.
And that is very good news for curling fans who, until the most recent Brier in Lethbridge, haven’t been able to attend games in person. And organizers of events like this one go that extra mile to keep those fans entertained.
“Hopefully you have a great experience. We’re trying to do a bunch of things. We’ve got some entertainment before the games start, during the game, we do different things up on the scoreboard to create some fan excitement. I mean, the curling on the ice is world class. It’s a World Championship. And the other thing we always have with our events is we’ve got the patch, where everybody goes between games.”
While there are teams at this event who hail from around the world and there are fans of every nationality, Canadian fans are particularly voracious. They know their curling.
“Curling fans are passionate. Especially here in Canada, they’re very knowledgeable. It’s funny, you’ll hear the cheers go up and down because they know what’s a good shot and what’s a bad shot.”
So now that we get the chance to partake in events once again, why not pop down to the CN Centre to take in some world-class curling. Or maybe just watch at the patch, where it’s free.
