Scotties Tournament of Hearts returns to Moose Jaw in 2020

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is making a quick return to Moose Jaw next year.

Mosaic Place will host the national women’s curling championship in February 2020.

If the announcement sounds familiar, that’s because the “Friendly City” also hosted the Scotties back in 2015, drawing in more than 70,000 curling fans. That made it the 11th best attended Scotties of all time.

To explain the quick turnaround for the national curling bonspiel, CURLSASK Executive Director Ashley Howard said a few things helped to set Moose Jaw apart from other bids.

“The great facility, first of all, the people here and the support of the community that we can really get behind an event and make it successful,” Howard said.

Howard also knows how special it is to represent Saskatchewan at the tournament — the Regina-native was the third on team Saskatchewan at the 2016 tournament.

“It’s an honour, it’s a privilege to wear that crest and represent the history that Saskatchewan has in curling and that legacy,” Howard said.

Resby Couts with Curling Canada echoed those sentiments, noting Moose Jaw is a very appealing market because when the event is on it becomes the hot ticket in the area.

“Folks who (are) maybe not regular curlers, or maybe not even particularly interested in the sport become fully involved in it, the business community becomes fully involved,” Couts said.

Bid Committee co-chair Kevin Dedelley said they need about 400 volunteers for the tournament. He said attracting volunteers shouldn’t be a problem if the 2015 tournament is any indication of the interest.

“Last time we had people from Hamilton, people from Salmon Arm, people from Kyle, Saskatchewan, Calgary, Alberta,” Dedelley recalled. “So the volunteers to come to our city, I don’t think we’re going to have any issues raising them.”

The tournament is expected to bring anywhere from $6 million to $12 million dollars in economic impact to the city.

This will be the sixth time the province will play host to the Scotties. Full event packages are expected to go on sale early in 2019.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray