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A picture of the new mural at the Melfort Curling Club. (File photo/northeastNOW)
Major developments

Year in review 2023: Massive year for curling community in Melfort

Dec 25, 2023 | 9:00 AM

As 2023 draws to a close, northeastNOW is taking a look back on the most important and impactful stories of the year, as selected by our reporters and editorial staff.

The curling scene in the Melfort area had a huge 2023, and there’s also a lot to look forward to in 2024.

The excitement began back in February, as the Melfort Special Olympics (MSO) curling team won the right to represent Saskatchewan in the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary in February of 2024.

The group were victorious at a 10-team tournament in Regina, featuring squads from both Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Head coach Bryan Kjelshus told northeastNOW the squad was excited about the victory.

“[I]t was so much fun for these guys because they curl like a team,” Kjelshus said.

He added that the chemistry on the team can overcome things like a gap in talent or depth.

“The lead is not trying to give the second a hard time and the second to the third and so there’s no infighting on the team and it’s so much fun that you might not have the strongest team, but when they curl together it is just so much fun to watch,” Kjelshus explained. “It’s nerve-wracking, but it’s still fun.”

Melfort won the tournament by just one point, as each team played a total of five six-end games over two days.

Melfort was tied with one end left in their final game, where they eventually went on to steal four.

“I don’t think our guys missed a shot right from the lead, up to the skip,” Kjelshus added. “Our guys went out and seemed to settle down, and curl really well and pulled the win off… they’re a pretty strong team, so we couldn’t curl and just have a 50% game.”

It was also announced later that month that Melfort was to host the Curling Day in Canada Festival in 2024.

The announcement was made on TSN where Curling Club club board member Kerrie de Gooijer told northeastNOW everyone at the club found out during the broadcast.

“We submitted an application but it was one of those things you never actually expect to be chosen,” she said.

The club is working on planning some fun events for curlers in the community and those travelling to see what Melfort has to offer.

“This brings a whole element of bringing the whole country and having the whole country involved in the momentum as well, which is really exciting,” de Gooijer explained.

The club touted their successful year in their application to host Curling Day in Canada, and also how they are seeing growth in the sport.

“We have a very welcoming curling community as it is and we really want new people to come out,” de Gooijer said. “It’s a lot about socializing. It’s like a reason to get out of the house.”

The accolades continued in April, as the Melfort Curling Club was named the 2022/23 CURLSASK Club of the Year.

The Curling Club celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2022.

Several board members attended a future of curling symposium in Regina to accept one of the three annual awards handed out by CURLSASK.

The Lanigan Curling Club was handed the Club Membership Growth award, while the Wynyard Curling Club received the Future Club award.

“It was really an easy decision for CURLSASK to select Melfort as the club of the year,” said CURLSASK community development manager, Dustin Mikush. “They checked all of the boxes in excellent club operations and best practices, volunteerism, finance and all those things.”

According to club president Corey Faye, the award was a nice acknowledgement for all they have achieved.

“The acknowledgment from your peers and provincial bodies, that we’re on the right track, and that we’re working towards something to make curling better for everybody in our region,” Faye said. “It was great to see that recognition, and awesome to have some of our board members down there to receive that.”

Faye added this award served as a bit of a precursor to Curling Day in Canada in 2024, and shed light on how many people truly care about the club, which is shown by the work they do.

“Hopefully, will allow us to gain momentum. Any exposure we can get to kind of gain interest from people that want to be involved with it to put on a great event, or just on curling in the Northeast and the Melfort curling club in general, is definitely a positive,” he said.

“It says a lot of great things about our club, volunteers, members and everybody that’s working hard to try to make the club as good as it can be. We put a lot of time and effort into trying to upgrade our rink events, and try to really bring people into our community and make our club a place everybody wants to come to.”

Meanwhile, the curling club was the recipient of a donation in June.

Red River Mutual awarded over $150,000 to improve community spaces in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the 10 communities receiving the funds through Red River’s community sponsorship initiative, ‘Spruce Up Your Story.’

One of the 10 communities was Melfort, with the money earmarked for rink renovations and improved accessibility at the curling club.

“We talked about why the curling rink is important to the community, and what we’re hoping to achieve with this project,” revitalization project chair, Kerrie de Gooijer told northeastNOW in June. “We were very happy and thankful to be chosen as one of the recipients of the money.”

This project will mark the beginning of phase two of the club’s revitalization project, set to begin next summer. That will include reconfiguring their front entrance and adding a vertical platform lift.

To do that, the interior layout will also have to be slightly changed, as well as a couple of upgrades to the more outdated sections.

“We’re really excited about this portion of the project, because this is all things that we can see. We just completed phase one, which was our roof and ice plants, but it’s kind of something that nobody can really see, so phase two will be things that we can actually see,” de Gooijer said.

The Melfort and District Curling Rink received their grant, which totalled $25,000, and each project will be overseen by Red River Mutual in partnership with the community spaces.

The outside of the curling club also received a beautification, as a new mural was finished in June.

Artist Carla Tyacke and the club teamed up to provide the community with a mural that celebrates the rich history of the sport in the northeast.

“It was a year ago that I put in my proposal for the project,” she told northeastNOW. “There was some fundraising, just trying to get everything all ready.”

Most of the suggestions Tyacke received from curling groups were incorporated into the design to showcase the past, present, and future of curling. Tyacke said you can truly feel the community in this piece.

“I tried to put that in by having the old team, pie, and coffee and then just to show the evolution of curling with the broom.”

The piece also includes a tiger lily, the Special Olympic logo, and the old original curling club.

In September, the Melfort Curling Club held its 50th-anniversary celebration with a golf tournament, banquet, and silent auction.

It was announced at the celebration that Bourgault Industries gave $100,000 for 10 years of naming rights, and the rink is now called the Bourgault Curling Centre.

“We’re so thankful for their commitment to the sport and our clubs and our community,” said Kerrie DeGooijer, project chair.

Brandt also gave them $50,000, as the rink’s lounge is now the Brandt Last Rock Lounge, and Viterra gave $25,000 to rename the locker rooms.

All of the funds will go toward the rink’s revitalization project, as they aim to raise a total of $1 million.

“I think it instills a sense of pride and encourages us that we’re doing good things in the community. People support us, we’re a social and recreation hub for the area and this is when people see the value of that and we’re so appreciative of the support,” DeGooijer said.

Canalta Hotels also chipped in $20,000 and another 33 businesses, rural municipalities and individuals came forward with donations from $1,000 to $10,000.

“We wanted to bring the community together, raise the profile of the curling rink, but then also acknowledge some of the sponsors we had come forward over the course of the past eight months and I think we did a great job of that,” she added.

Local volunteers and businesses donated, cooked, and prepped the meals, and DeGooijer said the support shown was somewhat tied to the local excitement generated for the sport and that it needs to continue.

Another donation took place in September, as ADAMA Canada pledged $5,000 to the Melfort and District Curling Club.

The funds are being sent to help revitalize the facility, which are once again being doled out as part of ADAMA’s ‘All In On Your Stomping Grounds’ program, which helps fund community projects across the country.

The money was earmarked to replace the ice plant and retrofit a new roof over the lounge, lobby and bathrooms.

These upgrades are part of an ongoing effort to increase the rink’s longevity and improve its energy efficiency.

“We’re very proud of our rink and want to maintain it as best we can,” said Melfort and District Curling Club President, Corey Faye, in a press release sent to northeastNOW.

“We know it can be difficult to get funding for smaller community projects, but facilities like this are important for residents’ happiness and well-being,” added Brooke Moon, area business manager for ADAMA.

“We’re happy to help out where we can because we know how big of a difference it’ll make in the long run.”

And in November, Melfort Special Olympics was able to host a ‘Curling Fun Bonspiel’.

The event, which was meant to be an annual bonspiel, had been postponed for four years due to COVID.

“We don’t have a lot of Special Olympic curling teams in the province, so let’s give them some more exposure and more chances to actually play a game,” explained program coordinator Tony Caissie.

During this event, Special Olympics teams came up from Regina and Saskatoon, as well as three other non-special-olympic teams. The local curling team usually practices on Wednesday nights, and can only really play games against themselves.

“Part of it was to promote the curling club, we’ve had really good support from the community, and again allowing our athletes to curl against other curlers and promoting the sport of curling within Special Olympics,” Caissie added.

“In the north, we are currently the only Special Olympic teams in curling, so hopefully, that would encourage other communities to actually try curling and get some athletes out.”

The hope is that this event will continue and only get bigger in the future, with the hope of increasing next year’s to eight teams, with some from Manitoba.

This past weekend also provided some good preparation for the Melfort curling team, as they are headed to Calgary in February.

“It gives them a good opportunity to actually meet their fellow competitors, and gave them a chance to actually play against teams that they’ve already played against when those qualifiers happened,” Caissie told northeastNOW.

cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com