The Montana’s Brier is Coming Soon – Downtown is Getting Ready To Rock!
The 2026 Montana’s Brier is coming to St. John’s February 27th – March 8th and Downtown will be buzzing with activity!
Eighteen of Canada’s top men’s curling teams (including our local legends Team Gushue) will be competing for the national title and the chance to represent Canada at the 2026 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship.
To welcome the teams, national television crews, and the thousands of fans who will be Downtown for the Brier, Downtown St. John’s Business Commission has partnered with Curling Canada to create a window decorating contest! The winning business receives 10 tickets to view a Team Gushue draw Sunday, March 2nd at 7:30 pm (Draw 9) at the Mary Brown’s Centre. The entire 10-day event is almost sold out (and it will sell out entirely) so these tickets are golden!!!! The winner can use the tickets for themselves, staff, or for customers!
How does the contest work? Well it is fun,easy and FREE to participant. Simply respond to this email to let us know that you want to be involved no later than February 6th. We will deliver a poster for you to put in the window that lets eveyone know that you are a participant.
The next step is to design and decorate your curling inspired window! Let your imagination run willd. For example, perhaps your window features curling inspired fashions, maybe you create a curling rink complete with curling stones, or perhaps you paint puffins curling on and iceberg in your window!! Whatever you can come up with!!! You can use props, paint scenes directly on windows, or use real curling equipment (brooms, shoes etc.). The sky is the limit! The conteststarts on February 11th and runs until February 25th. Officials from the St. John’s Curling Club will judge the windows and select the winner who will be notified on Thursday, February 26th. We will drop the 10 tickets off to the winning business. Business are encouaged to leave their displays up for the duration of the event.
We will promote the window contest through social media and other community channels and encourage the public to come down and view the windows and vote for their favorite as well. The public will be encouraged to take a selfie in front of their favourite window and post it on our social media channels using #LoveDowntownStJohns. We will pick two winners from these entries for gift cards to be used at Downtown businesses.
Lastly, knowledege is power so here are some quick facts about The Montana’s Brier:
*Prepare for the influx of fans, volunteers, Curling Canada staff, TSN broadcasters and teams from across the country who will be here for the Brier. This event is expecting to be sold out!
*Dates: Feb 27-March 8, 2026
*Location: Curing will take place at Mary Brown’s Centre and the St. John’s Convention Centre will be home to “The Patch” where there will be daily live entertainment and a selection of food and beverages.
*When: There will be multiple draws (curling matches) per day that last around 3 hours with 2 -3 hour breaks between draws when the crowds will be out and about in Downtown. Here is a simple the schedule so your business can be ready for the rushes.
Fri. Feb 27: Draw time 7:30pm -10:30pm
Sat. Feb 28: Draw times 2:30pm-5:30pm and 7:30-10:30pm
Sun., Mar 1 to Thu. Mar 5: Draw times 9:30am-12:30pm, 2:30pm-5:30pm and 7:30-10:30pm
Fri. Mar 6 to Sun. Mar 8: Draw times 1:30pm- 4:30pm and 7:30-10:30pm
So HURRY…HURRY HARD…and sign up for with window decorating contest to be a part of the excitment that is The Montana’s Brier. We look forward to hearing from you all soon!
UPDATED Feb 6, 2026. EOI now closed.
The Downtown St. John’s Business Commission – formally known as the Downtown Development Commission – is a Business Improvement Area (BIA) association. Downtown St. John’s was established by the City of St. John’s in 1989 as a self-help mechanism to be organized and operated by the local downtown business community.
Downtown St. John’s is seeking new members for the Board of Directors. We are calling for Expressions of Interest from business owners and commercial property owners in the downtown BIA business community who have an interest in sitting on the Board and have experience with working on non-profit volunteer boards.
In an effort to provide diversity and representation of all sectors of the BIA membership on the Board representatives from the following sectors are strongly encouraged to apply: Financial, Legal, Industrial and Office.
Downtown St. John’s believes in equal opportunity and is committed to reflecting the Downtown St. John’s BIA business community’s diversity on our board and committees.
Interested individuals should forward to the Nominating Committee a detailed personal bio with a brief statement outlining why they wish to serve and what attributes they would bring as a Downtown St. John’s Board Director on or before February 3, 2026 to:
Downtown St. John’s Board of Directors – Nominating Committee at info@downtownstjohns.com
To learn more about the Downtown St. John’s BIA please visit https://downtownstjohns.com/who-we-are/
The 2026 Executive Committee for the Downtown St. John’s Board of Directors was appointed at the first Board meeting for the New Year on January 13.
Jonathon Loder – owner and operator of Relic was appointed Chair. Kieran Hanley with ecoNext is the Vice Chair and Kyle Mercer with Cox and Palmer is the Treasurer. The City of St. John’s Council Representative to the Board of Directors for 2026 is Councillor Sandy Hickman, Councillor-At-Large.
The Board extends a big thank you to Kim Saunders for her many years of service volunteering with the organization as a Board Director. During Kim’s lengthy tenure with the Board she serves as Vice Chair, Chair and Past Chair. Happy Retirement Kim.
The Board Executive is supported by the following Board of Directors:
Joanne Earle – Cushman Wakefield Atlantic
Andrew Collingwood – Bowring Properties
Shaun Keefe – Steele Hotels & Longplay Capital
Justin Garland – St. John’s Fish Exchange
Mari-Lynn Taylor – ModelCitizens
For more information on the 2026 Downtown St. John’s Board of Directors and staff please visit: https://downtownstjohns.com/who-we-are/
#lovedowntownstjohns