Board game enthusiasts and winter sport hobbyists rejoice because … crokicurling is coming to Huntsville?
What is crokicurling, you ask? Well, just ask the Chamber of Commerce’s Halley Clover and Ron Kreutzer of the Huntsville Curling Club. The pair were before Huntsville town council on Dec. 10 to explain the game, why they’re bringing it to River Mill Park and to seek approval to build the ice board itself.
“The Huntsville Curling Club turns 125 in 2026, and we are very excited to help them celebrate in many ways next year,” Clover, the executive director of the chamber of commerce, said. “As you know, we’ve got a beautiful skating rink almost completed in River Mill Park, so we thought to activate that a little further.”
That activation came in the form of a proposal from the curling club to build a crokicurling rink.
“They came to me and I said, ‘what the heck is that?’” Clover told council, chuckling. “It’s sort of like crokinole. It’s crokinole and curling. It’s very exciting.”
The fusion of two Canadian pastimes will come together in the form of a 25-foot in diameter ice replica of a crokinole board near River Mill Park’s skating rink. The crokicurling rink will be a natural ice surface, complete with painted markings, wooden pegs and plastic stones. Clover said residents and visitors will be able to play at their leisure, with the chamber and curling club looking after the rink.
It will also be used by the curling club during January’s National Curling Day celebrations.
Initially planned to be just a weekend festivity marking Curling Day, Clover and Kreutzer said the decision was made to extend the duration of the rink’s availability throughout the winter season.
“We thought it would just add so much more excitement to downtown for as long as we can have it,” Clover said.
Kreutzer, the president of the Huntsville Curling Club, said the crokicurling rink will also be an opportunity to highlight downtown Huntsville as The Sports Network (TSN) is slated to spend National Curling Day in town this year.
“TSN chooses one curling club to do a live event in each year. This year, they chose Huntsville,” he said. “We think of this as not just a great opportunity to promote curling and the curling club, but the Town of Huntsville.”
Council was overwhelmingly supportive of the move, with Mayor Nancy Alcock remarking “What’s not to love about this? I think you know where this is going” to the delegates.
Council unanimously approved the request to install the crokicurling rink. Clover said the chamber and curling club hope to have the crokicurling rink up and running before Christmas.
