Everest Championships brings Canada's best club curlers to Barrie

Top-level club curlers from across the country have slid into Barrie this weekend for the nation's largest amateur competition.

The Everest 2024 Canadian Club Curling Championships kicked off in Barrie on Monday and pits 14 men's and 14 women's teams against each other for a chance to become national champion.

I think there's going to be a little bit of everything," said Patricia Bandurka, representing Ontario's women's team. "I think right now, we're going to take it one game at a time, have a blast and soak it all in."

The championships represent a huge opportunity for Barrie and its curling club.

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Tony Marquis is the the host committee chair and said being able to host a tournament of its size will help in building toward the future.

The Scotties and the Brier were club championships, that's how it started," Marquis said. "In my mind, this has replaced or backfilled those tournaments. "Barrie is a great city, it's just the perfect size city to hold events like this and and even some bigger events in the future."

For the city's tourism sector, it represents huge economic gain.

Tanya Schaefer-Montoya is the general manager of the Hampton Inn and Suites and also sits on the Tourism Barrie board of directors.

According to Tourism Barrie, the tournament is expected to bring in around $800,000 of economic value to the city.

"It's close to say, like one of the music festivals or any of the downtown weekends that we've had," said Schaefer-Montoya. "Like Promenade or Kempenfest, there's that much hype for this particular event."

Two games and opening ceremonies are scheduled for Monday, but the majority of the action will kick off on Tuesday.

The event is free to attend but organizers are asking for donations for the Barrie Food Bank.

The championships will wrap up on Sunday.