Winkler is gearing up for another successful Provincial curling championship.

Hot on the heels of the success and $100,000 profit from hosting the 2015 Scotties Provincial Women's Championship, local organizers for the 2018 Viterra Men's Provincial Curling Championship say excitement is already building among volunteers.

Louis Tanguay notes he's seen 75 percent return rate (18 out of 24) for volunteer chair positions, and six out of ten diamond sponsorships have already been filled.

"It speaks to the quality of the event we had in 2015," Tanguay says. "If we're using the same template, in theory, it should all work."

While more than 300 volunteers will be needed leading up to the Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 week next year, many of the former Scotties volunteers have expressed a desire to take part.

"After that event was over, for two months, even in the grocery store I had people coming up to me... they volunteered for the Scotties and said if we brought another event like that here they wanted to sponsor, contribute, volunteer."

He notes the Scotties also saw huge crowds and support from the community.

"I love it. I'm very excited about it," Winkler Mayor Martin Harder says. "We had an extremely successful Scotties Tournament of Hearts for Manitoba last year, and we showed the Province of Manitoba what can be done with an event like that."

"I'm very confident we can do it again," he says.

Like the Scotties, the Winkler Arena will be transformed into a curling rink, this time with five sheets.

Tanguay's work on the Scotties earned him both the Curl Manitoba Volunteer of the Year award as well as the Winkler and Area Community Foundation Citizen of the Year award in 2015