Pinnacles of the industry

Word from former TCN publisher and Editor Emeritus Doug Maxwell, and then officially out of Saskatchewan, that Regina heroes Laurie Artiss Ltd. have won the pin manufacturing and distributing contract for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Chris Pasterfield (L-P photo, above) was darned right when he labelled the Olympic pin job the "the pinnacle" of his industry.

The official Olympic suppliers for 18 years in Canada, The Pin People have been supporters of The Curling News almost since it was first published in Calgary, as Canadian Curling News, nearly 50 years ago. Grab a pin, any old pin, and chances are good it's got their name stamped on the back.

Until last year, The Curling News Pin Collector's Club was a regular TCN feature; it folded many years after it was deemed to be unprofitable and had continued only because of the company's love of the sport. The original company founder, curling fan Laurie Artiss, was a former sportswriter – the inaugural TCN legacy. His daughter, Karen Pasterfield, is company president (and Chris' husband).

But there's little time for champagne. After exhausting months of effort winning the bid, 2,000 designs are due, and the majority of pins have to be ready in time for Torino 2006... in four months!

However: "You cannot forget your core business," Chris said. "One thing we learned from Calgary in 1988 was exactly that. Olympics come and they go. We learned that we can't forget our schools and churches and local sporting groups that buy their pins from us. Because that's our bread and butter.''

Congratulations to one of curling's biggest supporters!