Rimbey will be quite the happening place come January, as it gets ready to host The 2025 Alberta Women's Curling Championship, presented by Sentinal Storage and hosted by the Rimbey Lions Club.
The event begins Jan. 22 and runs until Jan. 26 at the Rimbey Arena.
Rimbey will be hosting 12 teams from various curling areas throughout Alberta.
"That's an increase from eight teams in the past to 12 this year," said one of the co-chairs for the event Lisa Shukin.
"I think we're pretty fortunate because, first of all, our community centre is a great space and will function perfectly for the event."
Mayor Rick Pankiw said Rimbey is the smallest municipality in the province to ever host this event.
"We're looking forward to it. We've got a good group of executives and volunteers so far."
It's also going to bring in a lot of capital for the town during that time.
"The economic boom for the town... we're hoping between $500,000 to $700,000," said Pankiw.
"You're looking at 48 curlers plus their families and friends all coming to the community to cheer them on, but also to help eat in restaurants and buy gas and stay in hotels and stuff that helps promote this wonderful community we live in," said Patrick Rurka, the other co-chair for the event.
They are currently looking for more volunteers and sponsors for the big week.
"We're really hoping for a lot of volunteership out of all the Rimbey curlers so that we can make this event an amazing success. The volunteership is a big piece that really makes this event possible," said Rurka.
He said they currently have some partnerships and volunteerism coming out of Ponoka and some of the other surrounding areas.
One of the things they are doing leading up to the event to help raise funds for the various expenses is a raffle for a trip for four to Prince Rupert on a private fishing charter. There will also be other activities during the week the women are here that will be announced at a later time.
The Rimbey Lions Club will also be a part of the big event, having a list of 25 to 30 members volunteering during that time.
"We will be very much involved with the volunteering side of it. It should be great for the town and for the community and surrounding areas. We're hoping for large crowds every day and looking forward to some excellent curling," said President of the Rimbey Lions Club Roy Keessar.
During that time, hockey will be put off for a little over a week, as the curling gets underway.
"It's going to be four sheets of ice that are going to be done on the hockey rink. We're going to need upwards of 140 volunteers through the week," said Keessar.
Winners from this championship will go on to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in February.
A website is currently in the works, with tickets available by around September.
Anyone looking to get involved in this event please email Brent Heagy at brentheagy2@gmail.com or Darrell Peters at darrell.d.peters@gmail.com.
