The Nestor Falls Curling Club’s 50th anniversary open bonspiel over the weekend was as much a celebration of the community as it was a competitive curling event.
“The bonspiel went off really well,” club board member Les Helliar remarked.
“What other game do you know of where you have teenagers and senior citizens, both male and female, having fun together?” he added.
“All in all, it was a wonderful event and it came off with few glitches.”
A full field of 32 teams competed around the clock at the three-day event on two sheets of natural ice.
Of the 128 curlers from across the region who competed in the bonspiel, the oldest was a spry 77 years old while the youngest was a 10-year-old girl, who filled in for her teen-aged brother until he was able to get home from school.
Keith Jolicouer of the Stratton Curling Club narrowly defeated Charlie Windego’s Fort Frances rink to capture the ‘A’ event championship.
Tony Smaha skipped for the Windego rink.
Jim Jackson’s rink (Fort Frances Curling Club) beat Laird Tomalty’s team of Irish Leprechauns (out of Nestor Falls) to take the ‘B’ event championship.
And in the ‘C’ final, Brad Hughes’ rink (Fort Frances) defeated Glen Jackson’s Emo-based team.
But the weekend was not strictly a curling event. Numerous activities, geared towards entertaining the whole family, took place throughout the three-day event.
The band “Shadow Junction” performed both Friday and Saturday night.
A roast beef dinner, cooked slowly over a charcoal fire, also was served Saturday night. Following the meal, a Calcutta auction was held that raised $1,430 in the span of 20 minutes.
“It’s a big-time thing,” curler Ann Sandmoen said of the weekend. “All the people pull together and make it a good time.
“People from miles around say, ‘You have to go to the Nestor Falls bonspiel, it’s a good time.”
“It’s lots of fun,” agreed Devlin native Andy McCormick. “It’s a whole bunch of people from a small town getting together and having a good time.”
Of course, an event such as the Nestor Falls bonspiel would not be possible without the work of numerous volunteers.
“These things don’t happen without a great deal of behind-the-scenes help,” Helliar stressed. “Our curling committee had planned for the logistics of the event for weeks before it happened.
“There were a number of senior ladies who volunteered to run the canteen to serve the visitors at the rink, some whom have never curled,” he noted.
“Also the local teenagers who put in much time at the canteen and the banquet.
“There were so many people who helped we hesitate to name any names, since we probably would miss somebody,” said Helliar.
“But perhaps we could mention Larry Easton, who redecorated our clubroom before Christmas, and our longtime ice-maker, Glen Helliar, who struggled with warm weather this year to get our ice in great shape,” he added.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
