Family Day Fun!

Family Day at the Scotties showcases curling’s friendly atmosphere and activities for fans of all ages 

Team Ontario skip Rachel Homan walked into the hotel breakfast café with her three young children in tow. Newly appointed Curling Canada chief executive officer Nolan Thiessen’s son was keeping himself busy playing games in the staff room. 

And throughout Calgary’s Winsport Event Centre, hundreds of kids, accompanied by adults and wearing brand new cowboy hats, were having a ball Monday at Curling Canada’s first Family Day At The Scotties. 

Among the spectators for the morning draw of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts was Mervin and Marjorie Nelson with their two granddaughters, ages eight and six. The girls’ faces could hardly contain their smiles under their new cowboy hats. 

“Yes, I really like my hat. Look my togue fits on top,” says the beaming eight year old. 

“I LOVE my hat,” says the six year old. 

“This is their first time seeing curling (live),” says Mervin. “They watch it on TV.” 

Both girls were anxious to get to the pancake breakfast. 

“I love pancakes, we have it every time we got to grandma’s” says the eight year old. 

The family day activities included free iconic white cowboy hats provided by Tourism Calgary and a Pharmasave pancake breakfast, free for the first 300 kids. 

Marcus McKenzie, coordinator of marketing and tickets for Curling Canada, was beaming as he handed out hats to the kids as they entered the Winsport Event Centre Monday morning. 

“They have been so excited. Honestly it just makes my day seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces,” he says. “You see the kids light up when they come through the doors and when they get their cowboy hats they feel so much better. I’m having so much fun I would say sometimes more fun than the kids.” 

Andy Henry, manager of marketing and tickets for Curling Canada, says the response to the family day program was tremendous, easily surpassing the hoped-for 500 children attending the day’s events. 

“The goal was 500 kids. Between the various youth engagement initiatives, our family ticket program, and youth tickets sales, we distributed 1,124 tickets to this younger demographic. A tremendous achievement. All 500 cowboy hats were distributed!” 

He said the family day was introduced because the “timing was perfect for our expanding youth engagement program that we could focus a special day on family and youths. There’s family friendly pricing so parents are encouraged to bring their kids to the rink.” 

The family day initiative is part of Curling Canada’s move to strategically invest targeted resources into outreach efforts that will maximize the game’s exposure, reach and engagement, with a younger and more diverse, curling and non-curling demographic. The series of initiatives will bolster community awareness and participation for the sport of curling. 

It was much more serious on the ice, however, as eight teams continued their battle to earn a playoff berth in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Six-time champion Jennifer Jones and her Team Manitoba-Jones (4-0, Winnipeg-Altona) rolled past Melissa Adams and Team New Brunswick (0-3, Fredericton) 11-3; and former champion Rachel Homan and Team Ontario (4-0, Ottawa) also remained unbeaten in pool B with an 11-2 win over Bayly Scoffin and Team Yukon (0-4, Whitehorse).  

In two other games, Danielle Inglis and Team Ontario-Inglis (2-2, Ottawa) beat Kate Cameron and Team Manitoba-Cameron (2-1, Winnipeg) 11-4 while Clancy Grandy’s Team British Columbia-Grandy (3-1, Vancouver) got by Team Nova Scotia (1-3, Halifax) skipped by Heather Smith, 8-5. 

The 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues with today’s final draw at 6:30 p.m. MT. 

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/. 

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule. 

Broadcast coverage for viewers outside of Canada is available on TSN’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/@TSN_Sports. 

For ticket information for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2024scotties/tickets/. 

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2024scotties/nouvelles/?lang=fr.