The true economic impact of the Home Hardware Canada Cup won’t be known for some time, but the impact of the awareness that Estevan can host larger-scale events is something not to take for granted.
The Canada Cup is one of curling’s bigger events on the pre-Christmas calendar and featured the country’s best curlers battling for cash and spots in the pre-Olympic trials.
“From the standpoint of a small community like this, I think the biggest impact is the exposure for this community,” said Dwight ‘Fitz’ Bramble, economic development co-ordinator for the City of Estevan. “This is a national event, and international event actually in terms of television and media coverage, and so a community of 11,000 that’s tucked away in a corner of southeast Saskatchewan, events such as this really showcase and advertise the community.”
Sometimes, Bramble said, the dollars and cents impact might be more than the actual dollars and cents can indicate.
Bramble also believes that the opportunity for a community like this to come together and demonstrate the spirit that Estevan is known for is also important.
“You had close to 200 volunteers of local residents contributing to the success of this event,” he said. “That is huge. Just try to imagine if we had to pay for all of the activities the volunteers contributed… It would have been a huge cost to the community.”
Bramble said that the specific economic activity meant an increase in overall spending in regards to accommodations, food and beverage and transportation, as well as advertising dollars and security.
“So many areas of spending would have increased significantly over that week,” he said. “I’m really anxious to see what the figures look like.”
Bramble said they have an internal process they use to find out the economic impact and they may be sharing that information at a later date, and he said he wouldn’t have any problem speaking about those numbers once the figures are in.
Overall, events like the Canada Cup when they’re successful can promote the idea that the city and area can host other events as well.
“I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway,” Bramble said. “The city has demonstrated that we have the capacity to host events such as this, and the successful hosting of this event obviously puts us in a better position in the future to host similar events. I look forward and anticipate Estevan will be given opportunities in the future to host similar events, not only in curling and sports in general.”
