The house was rocking at the St. Albert Curling Club during Tuesday’s volunteer kick-off for the Jiffy Lube Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The Friendly Giant Lounge was packed with supporters committed to the cause of hosting the Jan. 25 to 29 national qualifier.
“You’re going to make it the success it is as our volunteers,” said Jackie Rae Greening, chair of the organizing committee, during her pep talk to the participants. “For me, it’s all about fun, it’s all about meeting the people and it’s all about making our club and our city look great and it’s going to be up to you and I, every individual in this room, to make sure we put on one of the best Scotties ever.”
The number of volunteers to register online was capped at 125 and the mark was easily achieved.
“We turned upwards of 50 away for volunteers,” Greening said. “It was a little slow and then suddenly we were slammed with a bunch and all at the same time so it was absolutely an incredible response.
“As we know, volunteers make the event for the fans that come to watch and for the teams that come to play so the experience they leave with is all what the volunteers leave them with and that’s so important.”
It’s also a major opportunity to show off the sparkling renovations over the years to the front and back ends of the TachĂ© Street rink, a landmark in the city’s downtown core.
“For the people who haven’t seen our new improvements, I want them to suddenly come in and see what a great facility we have,” said Greening, a 2011 wall of fame inductee at the St. Albert Curling Club. “But for us to be televised (on Sportsnet) across Canada from our club on the Sunday, the semi and the final, that to me is exposure for the City of St. Albert and for our club. That is something you can not buy in relation to exposure.”
The last time the Alberta Scotties were hosted in St. Albert was 1984 and the winner was Connie Bennet.
The 2017 Alberta Scotties will feature 12 rinks and the winner advances to the Canadian Scotties, Feb. 18 to 26 at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ont.
Val Sweeting, the 2015 provincial champions and Canadian Scotties finalist, is the first rink to qualify for St. Albert through the 2015/16 Canadian Team Ranking System.
Sweeting’s lineup consists of Paul Kane High School teacher Lori Olson-Johns at third, second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachel Brown and the foursome grace the event’s promotional poster.
“We have that local connection with Lori Olson-Johns so for us it’s really huge and with Val being from Vegreville it really is the local team almost,” said Greening, a three-time Canadian Scotties competitor. “I have a feeling they will definitely be one of the favorites obviously going into the championship so we’re pretty lucky to have them as our poster child.”
Last year’s Alberta Scotties was staged at the North Hill Curling Club in Calgary and Greening’s leadership team checked it out. “The hours they put in has been amazing.”
“It was a great experience to go to North Hill because it’s been in arenas for quite a few years until they decided to go back into the more cozy club atmosphere. They have a six-sheet rink just like us so it was a really good learning template,” Greening said. “The committee there was absolutely amazing. They offered some great advice.
“The biggest thing we just saw was a better revenue opportunity through sponsorships but we’re so lucky in that we always have a community of St. Albert that supports their local events. With North Hill sitting in the big city of Calgary they get lost there so they struggled with sponsorships, which we really excelled at here so far.”
General admission bleachers will be set up on sheet one and reserved seating is the VIP Patio section on sheet six and the Sponsor Loft in the Friendly Giant Lounge. Spectator viewing will also be available upstairs, where the media room and volunteer lounge will be located.
Full-event packages are $100 and they go on sale Nov. 22.
Visit www.2017jiffylubealbertascotties.com for ticket information.
For sponsorship inquires, contact Gil Jouan at 780-293-2986 or [email protected].
A confident Greening predicts the Alberta Scotties is going to be a shaker leading up to Sunday’s grand finale.
“We’ll have live music Friday night and Saturday night after the draws so those will be two really great nights,” said Greening, the manager of operations for Newcap Radio and CFCW program director who is the 2016 hall of fame inductee into the Association of Country Music in Alberta.
“We’re definitely looking for over 1,000 to be here.”
