Staff
Believe it or not, curling season is right around the corner and the Fort Frances Curling Club wants to help you get your rocks off this winter.
Registration takes place next Wednesday (Sept. 23) from 7-8:30 p.m. at the club.
A new wrinkle in the registration process will allow teams of as much as six to sign up, reducing the overall cost per person.
“Fees are the same based on a four-man team, but we’re opening up to teams of six at basically the same cost,” FFCC chairman Ron Silver said.
“With shift workers and some tough times [economically], we think this might help,” he added.
The club has daytime and evening options throughout the week, including a mixed league on Friday nights that Silver hopes will attract more rinks.
“If we have 24 teams, we’ll often run two draws, one at 7 [p.m.] and one at 8:30,” noted Silver.
“But we didn’t have quite as many teams last year and we’re hoping to get some back.”
The local club also hosts a kids’ program on Fridays after school, which Silver said has taken off recently.
“We’ve got a pretty good young program going right now,” he enthused.
“We had up to 50 in the 12-and-under age group, and they can start as young as five.”
The Tim Hortons “Little Rock” curlers (age five-seven) hit the ice from 4:30-5:30 p.m., followed by the seven- to 12-year-olds from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
The juniors (aged 12 and over) run simultaneously with the other two programs beginning at 4 p.m.
The first bonspiel of the year, the Early Bird Mixed, is on the docket for Nov. 13. The annual Ice Box Days bonspiel (hosted by the International Falls Curling Club) goes Jan. 15-17.
The ladies bonspiel will run Feb. 19-21, with the men’s tournament slated for March 25-28.
The club has renovated in recent years, and also brought in new curling rocks last winter.
“Holding the [Ontario] Scott Tournament of Hearts a couple years ago, and the men’s provincials [last year], helped with some of the bills and a little bit of grant money came through Trillium to fix the place up,” Silver explained.
Any big events or announcements to look forward to this winter? Stay tuned.
“Usually it’s every two years we have to wait to host something big, but there may be something coming in January that could be a bit of a celebration,” Silver hinted.
“But I can’t say anything yet.”
