The motto of the Canadian Curling Association's 2011-2012 "Season of Champions" is "You Gotta Be There." And since that Season of Champions kicks off in Cranbrook, East Kootenay residents not only got to be there, they get to be there.

The 2011 Canada Cup of Curling will be held at the Cranbrook Rec Plex, Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, 2011. Warren Hansen, Director of Events Marketing and Operations for the Canadian Curling Association (CCA), made the official announcement at a special lunchtime conference at the Prestige Inn on Wednesday.

"The Canadian Curling Association prides itself on tring to find great locations to host our major championships, and after our site reviews of the Kootenay region, Cranbrook seemed like a natural fit."

The Canada Cup features the top 10 men's teams and top 10 women's teams, and is the first event in the CCA's 'Season of Champions.' The season includes six major events, including the Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Hansen said that curling awareness is on the rise, especially since the Vancouver Winter Olympics. And curling in Cranbrook is getting a lot of buzz lately as well, partly because of a new lease agreement between the City of Cranbrook and the Cranbrook Curling Club. Playing host to the Canada Cup of Curling should do great things for local interest in the sport, and for the Cranbrook area in general.

"Whenever we take an event into an area it does a lot of great things for the area," Hansen said. "It brings a lot of attention to the area from people across the country, and it brings curling into a new awareness within the minds of the people within that area. So we hope all those things will be accomplished."

Part of the CCA's and Cranbrook Curling Club's agenda is getting more young people involved in the sport. Again, the Canada Cup should go a long way in this regard.

"With all our events we run varying programs and items for younger people to become involved," Hansen said. "We try to bring them into the venues during the daytime as much as we can to give them exposure and visible experience with the event. So all of that should help curling in this area."

Cranbrook Mayor Scott Manjak spoke at the event, and told members of the local Canada Cup Committee that they could count on the City's full support. He told the media later that the event was a great event for Cranbrook.

"It's going to do a lot for our community," Manjak said. "First, it's going to put us on a world stage and a national stage - we'll have the top 10 men's teams, the top 10 women's teams, showcasing our community, showcasing their talent, showcasing our recreational facilities.

"It also we'll have a lot of visitors in Cranbrook that will hopefully utilize our restaurants and our hotels ... But more importantly, they'll see what Cranbrook has to offer. We are the jewel in the Rockies, and when we bring all these visitors in and these world-class curling teams in, they'll see what Cranbrook has to offer to the world."

Manjak also praised the efforts of the Cranbrook Curling Club's Canada Cup Committee.

The CCA and the local Canada Cup Committee begin work on the event at once.

"We have a very structured approach as to how we unfold the event," Hansen said. In the case of this one, there's a 13-month period, things start immediately.

" We have an professional events management team of about 12 people who are specialized in various areas, who will immediately begin working on ticket marketing and sponsorship initiatives.

"As we get into the months ahead, the local committee will put all the people they need in place. We'll be back to do a major review meeting with them in April, we'll go through everything that's got to happen with this event and where it sits at that point in time.

We'll come back at the end of September, do the same kind of thing."

By February, the CCA and local committee will be working on local marketing and sponsorship fulfillment. "And it just builds from that point," Hansen said.

Tickets will likely be available by the end of February, early March.

Hansen estimated there would be about 3,000 tickets for public sale. "And we want to sell them all," he said.