We will be seeing significantly more traffic and a fair bit of buzz around Prince Rupert this week as the athletes and their fans for the 64th Annual All Native Basketball Tournament begin to arrive in town.
With hotels filling up and restaurants and beverage establishments finding an enthusiastic clientele, all of it makes for a much anticipated reunion that is a big boost for the city's Commercial sector coming out of January.
The Biggest one week celebration of the year, is one that puts Prince Rupert in the sports and cultural spotlight gets underway with play on Saturday, an official opening hosted by the Gitxsan on Sunday night and a week Long elimination schedule that leads to Championship Saturday on the 17th.
Along with the Basketball action and gathering of the fans from near and far, the Auditorium is also host to an ANBT marketplace with vendors on site through the tournament to showcase their work for those taking in the games or just dropping by to see what all the excitement is about.
Another highlight of Tournament week ahead will the addition of four new members for the ANBT Hall of Fame
The City's Recreation Department celebrated the return on Friday with some notes for both visitor sand residents alike, highlighting some of the items of note related to the Civic Centre facility this coming week.
To make sure that the Civic Centre complex is ready to greet the thousands of visitors to the facility, the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre is hosting a training session for staff, closing the facility tomorrow from5-7 to go through their plans.
As noted in the Recreation Department update from Friday, Bus Service to the Civic Centre will be impacted during Tournament week, BC Transit expands on those notes through their website.
The Civic Centre bus stop being temporarily relocated to in front of Mission Health on McBride, a location some may remember as the old Spero's market spot.
Also sharing in their enthusiasm for the days ahead is the Prince Rupert Port Authority which has offered an opportunity to win 4 sets of 2 tickets to the Opening Ceremonies for Sunday nights showcase event.
The deadline to participate is before Noon today.
The All Native Basketball Tournament organizers have also been busy working on the last minute details for this week's event.
As we noted last week, the Tournament Brackets have been released, charting the path for the participants on the way to Championship Saturday.
Organizers have also had some notes for those participating in Vendor program this year, as well as a reminder for season ticket holders.
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