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Orillia Packet & Times
Orillia could be even busier this summer after the area was showcased to thousands of athletes and visitors during the Ontario Winter Games.
Mikaela Cheslock, a member of the gold-medal winning girls’ curling team from Sudbury, enjoyed her experience staying at YMCA Geneva Park and competing at the Orillia Curling Club.
“It’s been really nice. It’s a beautiful area. Everyone around us is so friendly. It’s a great environment for us to be in,” she said.
Cheslock and the other three girls on the team said they would “definitely” come back in the summer.
Alicia Noble, manager of conference service for YMCA Geneva Park, said the facility hosted more than 200 curlers, wheelchair curlers and alpine skiers and coaches over the weekend.
“It was fully booked Thursday through Saturday nights and about half-full Wednesday night with early arrivals,” she said. “The exposure is just great to the whole area. We had a lot of enquiries at the front desk about family camp and family vacations in the summer.”
Fern Resort, Geneva Park and the Highwayman Inn housed athletes and coaches. Their families were at other hotels in the area.
“It’s a down time in the season for hotels and restaurants tourism-wise, so bringing this influx of people into town — there’s not a room in the city and that’s not normal for this time of the year,” said Michael Ladouceur, community chair for the Ontario Winter Games and sport program supervisor for the City of Orillia.
Nicole Bush, sales co-ordinator for Stone Gate Inn, said pairing the Winter Games with the Orillia Winter Carnival boosted their room bookings over the weekend.
“On Thursday night, we were almost fully booked. Friday night we were busy and we were fully booked Saturday night and we usually don’t fill up,” she said.
An estimated 9,000 people came to Orillia for the Winter Games with more than 600 athletes, 3,000 coaches, officials, volunteers and about 5,000 spectators.
In addition, there was more than 100 people volunteering at the local events.
“It’s bringing everyone together to showcase everything we have and a sense of pride and belonging,” Ladouceur said.
Local restaurants such as Royal Oak Restaurant also were busy over the weekend.
“We are usually busy Friday nights, but we had a lot of new people coming in from the park. It was steady Saturday,” said restaurant employee Kathy Ingram.
Drew Muir, general manager of Kelsey’s Restaurant on Memorial Avenue, was also busy but attributed it to other events in the area.
“We had a lot of snowmobilers in (Saturday) and we were packed (Saturday night) because Chicago was at Casino Rama,” Muir said.
He was keeping his fingers crossed for continued traffic Sunday from the Winter Games and Winter Carnival.
Photo:
Orillia Mayor Angelo Orsi was all smiles as he presents one of the gold medals to the Smith Curling Team from the Sudbury Curling Club, which won gold at the Ontario Winter Games in the girls curling event held Saturday at the Orillia Curling Club. Team members include, from left, Megan Smith, skip, Kira Brunton, vice, Mikaela Cheslock, second, Emma Johnson, lead and Chris Johnson, coach. GISELE WINTON SARVIS/PACKET & TIMES