The Altona Curling Club is primed and ready to host another provincial curling event.

The 2023 Asham U18 Men's and Women's Provincial Championship is coming to town from December 27th to 31st.

After hosting the Canola Juniors U21 championship a number of years ago, Organizing Committee Co-Chair Keith Stoesz says they are excited to bring another event to town.

"We love showcasing our building, showcasing the community, and [we're] just super excited that Curl Manitoba has trusted us again to bring another provincial event to Altona. For the U18, obviously, it's under-18 only. We're only hosting it in the curling club, instead of bringing in both the arena and the curling club."

This year's committee consists of some of the same people involved in the Canola Juniors.

"We know how to build a volunteer schedule, we know how to tap people on the shoulder to volunteer. It's a well-oiled machine."

The town also has a lengthy history with the U18 provincials, with some curlers going on to compete at a higher level.

"Team (Mackenzie) Zacharias actually won the event three times, starting in 2015. They won in 2015, 2016, 2017. But at that point there was no U18 nationals. I think one year they were able to go to nationals, and other than that, there was another event in Edmonton they went to. But yeah, there's a few banners up in the curling club rafters with the U18 provincial winners with the last name Zacharias on it, and we're hoping to add some different names on it this year - maybe another Zacharias. But more names is better."

Stoesz admits having local teams involved this year is an added bonus. 

"We have the local Team Wahl, who's actually going to be Team Manitoba at the Canada Winter Games, competing. We have Logan Zacharias competing on the men's side of things, and a couple teams from Winkler and Carman area, too. So it's got nice local content right now, and we love being able to have our local competitors compete at home."

One of the main highlights for Stoesz is seeing the club's building being used the way it was meant to be done.

"We're utilizing the track area, so there's additional viewing space in the curling club. We're trying some new things around the opening ceremonies to give it a bit of an exciting feel.  We've offered teams to give us a bit of a walk out song, so during the opening ceremonies they can add some team personality to it. We're just looking forward to seeing the building active in a time when the building typically isn't very active between Christmas and New Year's. It's going to be a busy place with some good curling."

With seventeen teams competing, the event will bring economic spin-offs to the community. One hotel was already completely booked for the week of the competition several weeks ago.