FORT FRANCES—With two cancellations already this year, the Fort Frances Curling Club is hoping the third time will be a charm for their bonspiel season.
With only a couple of teams signing up for the Hallowe’en Early-Bird Mixed bonspiel in late October and the Grey Cup Skins Game late last month, club president Maureen Thomson is looking to add an event before the new year and stem the apparent waning support of local bonspiels.
“I’m anxious to know what the scenario is, why we just can’t seem to get anybody together this year,” Thomson said. “It’s a tricky thing to get people to commit extra.”
The club is meeting to discuss tentative plans to hold a Home for the Holidays bonspiel between Christmas and New Year’s Day to take advantage of the influx of college and university students returning to the area with little to occupy their time during the break.
Thomson is hoping that aiming for a different curling demographic—and significantly stepping up the club’s advertising—will pack the house.
“I remember when my daughter would come home from university, she was almost bored at times,” Thomson said.
A Saturday afternoon bonspiel would give them a place to meet up and get together “instead of in a bar,” Thomson laughed. “Hopefully it’ll work and I hope it’ll be a success. I think it’s a great idea.”
A success is what the club would need to regain some confidence behind its non-league events. While Thomson said the club is “holding our own on membership,” the problem is “nobody wants to do any extra” and come out to weekend bonspiels.
But she also knocked the club for not being pro-active enough in getting the word out—blaming poor marketing both to the public and even within the club’s own walls.
“I think sometimes we get a little laid back,” she said.
Thomson said the next bonspiel held by the club—a Home for the Holidays-themed event or otherwise—will see more promotion in print and broadcast, as well as some strong advertising within the club itself.
It’s a far cry from the bonspiels of just a decade ago, Thomson lamented. A New Year’s Eve bonspiel was once a regular and well-attended event, but the club’s curlers seem to have less drive to play the game away from their usual weekday league.
“They’re just not doing anything extra for themselves. They’re just doing their kids’ hockey tournaments and everything else from the sounds of it,” Thomson said.
The club will continue to explore ways to push their bonspiels, and soon will survey the membership to get a better feel for why this season’s weekend events haven’t gotten off the ground.
In the meantime, the club seems sure to see a turnaround in its bonspiel fortunes.
Even if an extra event isn’t added before the new year, or it proves to be less than a success, the 15th-annual Ice Box of the Nation bonspiel will run Jan. 18-20—and Thomson is confident it’ll make for a busy weekend.
“This is just a standard given, it’s a sell-out,” she said.
For more information, call the curling club at 274-6667 or visit www.fortfrances.curlingclub.ca
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
