How Kelowna brought together tourism, business,volunteers and residents to transform the Memorial Cuptournament into a celebration of place.
By Doug Wallace
HOW DOES a city of roughly 165,000 host one of Canada’s biggest annual sporting events? By drawing on the team spirit of the whole town.
This past May, the Kelowna Rockets hosted the 2026 Memorial Cup, Canada’s premier junior hockey championship. And as you might expect, it took a village, planning-wise, to get everyone in this BC city engaged and excited with all eyes on the prize.
“When we started to develop our organizing committee, we involved people from the City of Kelowna, Tourism Kelowna and the Downtown Kelowna Association [who represented local businesses],” says Jillian Haller, the local event manager for the tournament and owner of tour company Signature Connections.
The committee also included the executive director of Festivals Kelowna, who helped to curate event and entertainment programming, plus a representative from the Westbank First Nation. “We really had a well-rounded host committee trying to activate all aspects of the city to make sure stakeholders were aligned with what we were planning,” Haller adds.
All the planning paid off, with the event delivering Kelowna a noticeable boost, according to Sara Correa Haslehurst, business development, membership, sports and events for Tourism Kelowna. “Hotels were busy, the downtown core saw an influx of visitors and residents, and many local businesses reported increased foot traffic and higher revenues.”
In real numbers, the economic impact for the community was in the neighbourhood of $20 million. Correa Haslehurst says that many people stayed for the entire 10-day tournament, experiencing both Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley region. “Beyond the economic impact, the event also created a strong sense of community pride,” she adds.
“It’s the biggest hockey tournament in Canada, but we really wanted it to be a city experience as well,” Haller adds. A family zone for kids and adults was set up at Stuart Park, complete with live music and a beer garden. Large screens became a focal point, allowing everyone to experience the action even if they weren’t inside the rink. “The goal was to have the whole city feel included, to kind of have a piece of the Memorial Cup.”
The planning team also worked with the City of Kelowna on logistics like parking and transit, creating a program that offered free transit to people with game tickets or volunteer accreditation.
Speaking of which, about 300 volunteers were needed—and that many and more raised their hands. “At one point, we had to wait-list volunteers because we were worried we weren’t going to have enough shifts for everyone that was interested,” Haller says. She also thinks the enthusiasm for volunteering was amplified by the fact that Kelowna was supposed to host the Memorial Cup back in 2020, which was cancelled because of the pandemic. “I do think we had a little bit of pent-up demand. People who were involved in our process back in 2020 were ready to cross the finish line with us in 2026.”
Even before the first face-off, the entire city was abuzz. “From the moment visitors stepped into the Kelowna airport, they could feel the excitement of the event,” Correa Haslehurst says.
“It was incredible—we’re really proud of what we did,” Haller adds. “The hockey teams said they felt well taken care of, the community seemed to enjoy everything we put together and the Canadian Hockey League said it was one of the best Memorial Cups they’ve ever had.”
The 2027 Memorial Cup will take place in late May 2027 at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, ON, hosted by the Guelph Storm.
Photos: Steve Dunsmoor/CHL
Published October 2026
