Pin trading bringing people together at Canada Winter Games

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Cooper McLeod, 12, who has a brother on the Northwest Territories male hockey team, stumbled into pin trading last year at the Arctic Winter Games in Hay River.

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“I was really board and so my mom told me, she was volunteering, she had two volunteer pins. She gave me them and dropped me off at the pin trading center and it just started from there.

“Some of my friends and family collected some (pins) when they were kids too so they gave me some. I basically spent my whole time for a week trading pins in the hockey arena in Hay River.”

Bill Reay from Bashaw, a pin collector of 30 years, says his favorite part of pin collecting is the connections he makes.

“It’s mainly the people you meet. That’s the most fun you have. You meet hundreds of different people, do a little trading, and it’s just great fun.

“It’s just a great way to meet a lot of people, enjoy some of the sports, some of the best athletes in Canada that you’re going to see in the international fields.”

Taman has some advice for aspiring young pin traders.

“Be smart with your trades, use your age to your advantage. Try and get the sponsors to give you an extra pin or two so that you can trade them around. And remember that if you have something valuable that you can ask for more than one pin in return.

“The territory pins are always some of the more popular pins of the games, they don’t send as many athletes usually, so it’s harder to come by and things like that.”