The 59th annual Manitoba Firefighters' Curling Championship is coming to Steinbach this week. It begins Thursday. Dennis Vassart of the Steinbach Curling Club says the winner of this event will go on to the national firefighters championship so there is a lot at stake for some of the teams. He adds there are also some teams that are here just to have fun.

"There is the camaraderie and the visiting and the storytelling comes into it a lot too. There are teams out of Winnipeg, there are teams out of the western part of the province and, normally, you see teams from Dauphin and from the north. Steinbach actually has three teams in the event this year because of being the host community."

Vassart adds there are about sixteen teams coming here from across the province. He says this is a significant event for the city and for the curling club.

"It's be pretty big for us. We have lots of volunteers who have stepped up which is the only way we can make this work. It's going to help our coffers a little bit, we hope. We haven't seen the final numbers but we think it will help our club significantly for the season."

Vassart says the curling club is ready to go and the ice is in great shape.