OLDS — Mayor Judy Dahl and community services director Doug Wagstaff took turns thanking volunteers profusely for all their help in staging the KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup.
The bonspiel, the final competition of the 2021-22 Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling, was held May 3-8 at the Olds Sportsplex.
“I attended this event daily with other members of council. And on behalf of all the council, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved,” Dahl said.
Her thanks went out to the athletes, the volunteers, the fans and everyone else, adding it was a great way to showcase the community, the area, and the friendliness of residents.
“A humungous thank you to the volunteer effort that brought this to Olds and then made it one of the greatest Pinty’s Grand Slams of all time,” Wagstaff said.
He said during the event, Sportsnet officials gave the organizing committee co-chairs a jacket signed by some of the greatest curlers in the world who took part in the competition.
Wagstaff said town officials plan to have the jacket framed to serve as “a bit of a history to share” so in the future people will know the Champions Cup was held in the community.
Town of Olds mascot Oliver Olds was one of the biggest hits of the KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup, town officials say.
“If you were walking around with one of the many Oliver Olds (mascots) you had to hang on to it tight, because it was a very popular item this past week,” said Wagstaff as he held up one of the little stuffed owls.
He estimated that 1,700 of the little mascots were handed out to fans, athletes and their children.
Well-known curler John Morris, a second for Team Koe of Calgary, announced earlier his plans to retire at the end of the season.
Wagstaff said as Morris posed for photos with his two young children at the end of the men’s final on May 8, they held Oliver Olds stuffed animals tightly in their arms.
“And then when you looked in the crowd, there were many children and seniors and every age alike in between that were taking Oliver. So it was a great success,” Wagstaff said.
Mayor Dahl agreed Oliver was in high demand.
She said two girls playing at a table near the Town of Olds booth kept fighting over the one Oliver they had.
Dahl asked Wagstaff to try and find another one, in an effort to quell the fighting.
He did. And that worked.
“It was probably the last one available," Dahl said. “When I gave it to the child’s mother, she started to cry and said, ‘I just didn’t know what I was going to do, because every time I turned around they were fighting over that, so thank you for doing that for us.’”
