A recommendation was recently made requesting that Saugeen Shores Town Council approve waiving $5,000 of the rental fees for the 2022 Ontario Men’s Curling Championship and that these fees be recognized as a Gold Level Sponsorship.
Staff were approached by the Sponsorship Committee of the Ontario Tankard event to take to provide sponsorship funds towards the event.
The event is expected to provide a large economic impact to the community and the Town’s support of the event is seen as an opportunity to develop a four-season tourism destination potential.
Any surplus funds from the event will be used by the Sponsorship Committee to effect repairs and much needed updates to the Port Elgin Curling Club, which is a not-for-profit community organization. The surplus will also be used support enhanced programming around accessibility, increased diversity and improved youth curling programs.
On February 21, 2021, Council received a report from the Director, Community Services indicating that the Department of Community Services had, in fact, been approached by CurlON to host the 2022 Men’s Tankard Curling Event from February 6 to13th, 2022, at the Saugeen Shores Community Complex.
Staff are estimating total facility rental charges for the event to be approximately $20,000 or $2,500 per day. Staff have estimated that normal revenue for this time period would be approximately $8,800 – $9,500. The net positive impact to the Town’s revenue is therefore approximately $10,500. Event organizers are currently looking for sponsorship and have inquired if the Town is interested in sponsoring the event.
In her report, Director Jayne Jagaleski said that, “This event is a great opportunity, which will have a large impact in our community and direct proceeds from this event will stay in our community supporting the Port Elgin Curling Club. The estimated economic impact to our community is anticipated to be from $700,000 to $1 million over the five days of the event. This will be evident through shopping, accommodation, meals and fuel purchases. Staff are, therefore, recommending that the Town waive $5,000 of the rental fees for the 2022 Ontario Men’s Curling Championship and that these fees be used for a Gold Level Sponsorship.
Deputy Mayor Don Matheson said that he felt it was a good idea to waive the fee and put the amount forward as a Gold Sponsorship to which Council agreed with a unanimous vote.
