Fret not as Ogden will soon be playing host to an event of global caliber.

LGT World Men’s Curling Championships are set to descend on the Ice Sheet at Weber County Sports Complex March 27-April 4 with competitors from 13 nations, including many participants in this month’s Winter Olympics.

Visit Ogden President and CEO Sara Toliver told the Standard-Examiner on Tuesday that the tournament will be huge for the area.

“This is a world event,” she said. “We will be hosting (13) different countries and are super excited having those teams here, especially coming off of the Olympics and the increased interest in curling that seems to have been generated this year.”

She said that each day with exception of the opening day will feature sessions open to the public at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“There are lots of opportunities for people to come and experience curling in their own backyard,” she said.

Toliver said this year’s event will feature 66 athletes from Canada, China, Czechia, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. They will also be accompanied by several coaches, support staff, family members and World Curling officials.

She also spoke of Visit Ogden’s role in bringing the tournament to Ogden and making sure it goes off without a hitch.

“One of our responsibilities, overall, is to bring group business into our community, whether that’s a meeting or convention in one of our venues or a youth sporting event,” she said. “This World Curling opportunity came from our partnership with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. World Curling had reached out to them and asked if Utah would be willing to host this event because the initial country that was supposed to do it had some conflicts and had to back out.”

Toliver said Visit Ogden has been working for nearly a year on preparing the area for the world’s next visit.

“It was a little bit of a shorter lead time than normal, but of course, we saw the opportunity to welcome the world as well as highlight our curling venue and said that we would jump in and take care of it,” she said. “It’s been a great partnership between the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, Visit Ogden and Weber County with support from the Utah Sports Commission and Ogden standpoint.”

She said Visit Ogden’s role comes in off the ice.

“We are kind of managing all of the off-ice, outside the event things,” she said. “We’ll make sure the teams feel welcome when they come into the community, we’ve worked with UTA on some transportation scenarios and options, we’ve worked with Weber State who’s providing security and parking support for the event as well as we’ll be hosting a community send-off celebration on April 3 at the Monarch in conjunction with the First Friday Art Stroll.”

Additionally, Toliver said that there will be festivities around the Ice Sheet that will be open to the public.

She said one of the biggest things they’re working on in the final month running up to the event is marketing and ticket sales.

“We really want the community to come out and support this event,” she said. “We’re hoping that they’ll come out and enjoy the event. The event is taking place during Ogden and Weber School District’s spring breaks, so we’re hoping parents will bring their kids — the day sessions are free for kids under 12 — so a great opportunity to explore and see something new first-hand. This is going to be the same or similar teams to who who were playing in the Olympics.”

Toliver said this is a great test for the Ogden area as it continues preparing for the Winter Olympics to come to the region in 2034.

“This is a great opportunity for our community to come out and really get to take advantage of having this event here and show these athletes from around the world some support,” she said.

For more information including tickets, visit https://www.visitogden.com/curling/.