Days Inn, Blackbeard's gearing up for busy two weeks

Affinity Place won't be the only building in town that's bustling during the 2022 Saskatchewan Curling Provincials in Estevan.

Hotels and restaurants are also expected to be busy, including the Days Inn and Blackbeard's.

"Oh it's going to be a real busy time I'm expecting," said General Manager Jeff Pierson. "It's a great event for our city obviously. It brings different people to our city and community."

"Whether its families or friends of the curling teams, I think everyone in Estevan is going to benefit from this."

Pierson said the economic impact for this kind of event is massive.

"I think what this does to our local economy is huge, bigger than most people would think," he said. "This is just short of a two week event for our city, so the dollars that are spent in just dozens and dozens of different areas...it's incredible."

"Any time we get an event here it's awesome and you try to support them as much as you can. I think Estevan should be extremely proud of themselves that we've got a name of such gracious hosts here. Whether it's baseball or curling or Hockey Canada, you name it, we're on the map and that's really cool."

Pierson admitted he's not the biggest curling fan, but he gets swept up in the sport whenever it comes to Estevan.

"It's funny...I don't watch much of it on TV but any time it's been in Estevan I've just about lived at the rink," he said, adding that he's good friends with Cindy Ricci, the lone local skip in the women's field, who used to live in Estevan.