THUNDER BAY — Schools from all over the city bussed out to watch the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Tuesday.
It offered several grade school students the opportunity to fill the stands to cheer on their favourite teams.
These school day events will run until Thursday.
Diane Imrie, vice chair with the 2025 Scotties, said when they put out the call to local schools about coming to participate in this program, it sold out quickly.
“It’s going fantastic. You can hear the excitement in here,” said Imrie.
“The kids are just thrilled. They’re loving the curling. They’re loving being up on the jumbotron whenever the big yell goes up.”
Five students from Holy Cross Elementary School's Grade 4 and 5 class shared their thoughts on coming out for the tournament.
Many of the children agreed that it was really entertaining to watch the games with how they could change at any moment through any end.
“It’s really entertaining,” said one student. “Because it can change at any time.”
Another classmate added that watching how the sport was done and how players used the equipment was fun.
“I just think it’s a very hard sport to do,” another student said. “Just because you got to have a perfect throw and a perfect curl.”
Imrie added that with Krista McCarville’s school also coming out for the games, it’s going to be pretty loud in the Gardens.
She said organizers are happy and thrilled with the way the games have been unfolding.
Tickets are also still available.
“It’s just been exciting. I mean, you get this sense of excitement within the city,” said Imrie.
“Thunder Bay is a great hosting town and again, comments from visitors, they’re thrilled with how receptive the community has been welcoming them here. So curling’s been fantastic.”
Imrie explained that the shuttle service has also gone over very well.
“A couple of glitches at the beginning, which is to be understood, but it’s really been appreciated by the public,” she said.
“Parking around this area is a challenge, but we took the effort, the organizing committee. We got some money from the Thunder Bay CEDC who have sponsored some shuttles for us, which has really gotten people to and from the event, which has been great.”
She said getting some of the teams in was tight with major storms in Toronto and Montreal and the Monday airplane incident at the Toronto Pearson Airport.
“Kudos to our contacts that help with Air Canada to get everybody here,” said Imrie.
“People are loving Thunder Bay. We’ve got great ambassadors, which it’s exciting. I love this kind of stuff, so it’s been great,” she added.
Imrie encourages the city to come on down to spend some time watching great curling with local bands in the patch every night.
“We encourage folks to check with the Fort William Gardens box office during the week. Of course, (there is) available seating,” said Imrie.
“Weekend finals, it’s more of a challenge, but there are still some seats for, I believe, Friday (and) Saturday, but the Sunday final, I understand, is sold out.”
She added they might be releasing some standing-room tickets for the championship, which would be great and wonderful to see it full.
