If you’ve been putting off getting your tickets for the Meridian Canadian Open Grand Slam of Curling Event at the North Battleford Civic Centre in January, you may want to change those plans.
Ticket sales for the event, which will run from Jan. 3-8, 2017, have already surpassed the 50 per cent for full week passes as tickets for the playoffs went on sale this past week.
“We’re really happy about the response so far and we’re really encouraging people to get their tickets immediately if they haven’t done so yet,” North Battleford mayor and event committee member Ryan Bater said.
“We’ll have tickets for individual draws on sale at the end of November, but with the way things are going so far, I’m not sure there will be many seats left by then.”
When asked what has led to the brisk ticket sales so far, Bater says much of it comes down to having a major curling event at the Civic Centre.
“Even if you’re a curling fan or not, I think it transcends that when you’re having a world class level competition here in our community,” Bater said.
“For those that aren’t curling fans, I’ve likened it to if we were hosting a major soccer event with the best players in the world. You may not be a fan of soccer, but you’d be interested in seeing a high level of competition. That’s what we’re going to see here with a high level of curling.”
Of the full event passes that have been sold so far, only 45 per cent of the purchases have come from the Battlefords and the surrounding area.
“Over half of the purchases have come from other areas in the province and even outside of it,” Bater said.
“So far we’ve sold tickets to people in places like Calgary, St. Albert, Regina, Yorkton and La Ronge. People are coming from far and wide to be at the Civic Centre and it’s going to be great.”
The Grand Slam of Curling season got underway in Okotoks, Alta. two weeks ago with Sweden’s Niklas Edin winning the men’s event and Ontario’s Allison Flaxey capturing the women’s title.
The second event of the year is taking place this weekend in Cranbrook, B.C.
The Meridian Canadian Open will feature 16 of the top teams on both the men’s and women’s side as they compete in a triple-knockout format.
Weekend passes, which include tickets to Friday’s final round-robin draw, Saturday’s four playoffs games and both the men’s and women’s final on Sunday, cost $140.14.
Full event packages are still on sale and cost $279.12 and single draw tickets will start to be sold on Dec. 1.
Tickets can be purchased online at gsoc.goigniter.com or by calling the Battlefords North Stars office at 306-445-7827.
