From curling to couture: Fort William Gardens featured on limited edition T-shirt
The Fort William Gardens is the 1st Canadian arena to be featured on a new series of themed T-shirts
An ageing but iconic building in Thunder Bay is getting some attention from a U.S.-based clothing company.
The Fort William Gardens arena, which has hosted countless hockey games, curling events, and rock concerts in the northwestern Ontario town, is one of a number of notable North American arenas being commemorated through a line of T-shirts created by the apparel line Sauce Hockey.
It's the fourth shirt in the 12-part collection to be released and the first Canadian arena to be featured.
"If you look at some of the most notable historic rinks in Canada and the United States, the Fort William Gardens stands out for a lot of reasons," said Daryl Jones, who works at the Arizona-based company, which includes several investors from Thunder Bay.
The city's reputation for pumping out the highest number of pro hockey players per capita also peaked the company's interest in the Fort William Gardens, said Jones.
"I think what it really speaks to is the tradition of hockey in the community. And part of that is a building like this that kids are proud to play in, strive to play in and really want to show off their talents in," he said.
So far, the T-shirt series also includes the Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Arizona; the Roseau Memorial Arena in Roseau, Minnesota and the David S Ingalls Rinks (or "Yale Whale") in New Haven Connecticut.
The Fort William Gardens T-shirt is available for a limited time for customers who sign up for the company's T-shirt subscription club.
At the end of May, the Fort William Gardens shirt will be off the market, or as Jones puts it: retired to the "hall of fame."