This year the Scotties Tournament of Hearts is being hosted in East St. Paul and the facilitators are thrilled to have the women's curling tournament back in person once more. 

Debbie Palson is the co-chair of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the president of the East St. Paul Curling Club. 

"It's awesome actually to have it back in person," says Palson. "We've given our event, because we're from East St. Paul, so we are ESP2023 Scotties. We're going to be dressing up our arena before the event. We have 195 volunteers and the community has been wonderful in supporting us."

While the town has a curling rink, they're turning the hockey rink into a curling venue. It will be an intimate event, according to Palson, with seating for roughly 340 people. 

"This year's tournament is going to be outstanding. We have such a wonderful field of athletes including the Jennifer Jones and Mackenzie Zacharias team, a wonderful young team that won it last year. So everyone will be anxious to see them curl."

Kaitlyn Lawes just welcomed a baby girl on December 16, 2022. She'll be leading a new team at the tournament. 

"Every single team that's here has a chance of winning. We have two junior women's teams that are actually curling in the provincial Scotties."

The event takes place from January 25-29 in East St. Paul. Full event or day passes are available here

"Our theme for the event is Manitoba. We'll have live entertainment on Friday and Saturday night with a big screen to live stream the featured game of every match. Our curling club and community are very proud to host this event and we'll do our best to make all the spectators and visitors welcome."