Due to popular demand we have added some new local city curling club listings to CurlingRink.ca.

We’re hoping to make it easier for to find the best local club in your area.

We’ll be adding listings for all the major centres across Canada over the next while, but here is our first set of listings. We hope you find it helpful.

An interesting post over at the Blind River CC blog as Glen Austin revisited a curling syposium that was put on earlier this summer by the NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Assoc).

The symposium centered around the operational aspects of maintaining a successful club – especially as things have gotten more challenging. Things like insurance, member recruiting and media sterategies were covered.

What stood out more than ever was the need to look at curling from a business standpoint. With times being the way they are, small clubs ( and larger clubs!) need to get creative in moving forward and maintaining the club. Undoubtedly, there is definitely a need to look to outside funding sources for revenues needed for club maintenance. These monies by and large can only be accessed by those clubs which are “Not for Profit”. This is where our club has to go and as fast as we can. I was surprised to see how many clubs have already done this,…and already accessing dollars for various initiatives within the club.

Interesting read if your club is looking at their future path as many others are…

Here is a fun video that promotes the social aspect of curling from the fine folks at Banff/Lake Louise Tourism.

This video was filmed at the Banff Curling Club in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

We’ve been hard at work here recently adding to our facility guide, and thought we’d share with you some recent additions to our Canadian curling club listings.

If you have any additions or updates we should add to our database, please don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know.

The Glencoe Club (AB)
Strathcona Curling Club (AB)
Westlock Curling Club (AB)
Two Hills Curling Club (AB)
Garrison Curling Club (AB)
Lancaster Park Curling Club (AB)
Medicine Hat Curling Club (AB)
Hanna Curling Club (AB)
Smoky Lake Curling Club (AB)
Avonair Curling Club (AB)
Derrick Curling Club (AB)
Crestwood Curling Club (AB)
Baddeck Curling Club (NS)
Halifax Curling Club (NS)
Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club (MB)
Parksville Curling Club (BC)
Regina – Wheat City Curling Club (SK)
Swift Current Curling Club (SK)
Saskatoon Granite Club (SK)
Port Elgin Curling Club (ON)
Renfrew Curling Club (ON)
Carleton Place Curling Club (ON)
Brockville Country Club (ON)
Stratford Curling Club (ON)
Weston Golf & Country Club (ON)
Uxbridge & District Curling Club (ON)
Oshawa Curling Club (ON)
St. George’s Golf & Country Club (ON)
Chinguacousy Curling Club (ON)
City View Curling Club (ON)
Peterborough Curling Club (ON)

The high cost of maintaining an aging curling facility has yet again become a reality for an Ontario curling club. The membership of the Hylands Curling Club in Ottawa this week had to make the difficult decision to close its doors. From their website:

Hylands Curling Club Members:The executive would like to inform you all that sadly Hylands Curling Club has been permantly closed. Estimates for repairs to make the club environmentally and electrically safe totalled $250,000.00. Given that the club was built in 1958, base fund officials could not support this large loan.

All paid members for the Oct 06 – Apr 07 season will be reimbursed by the Canadian Forces Support Unit, Ottawa, Non Public Funds accounting section.

Members who have some personal items stored at the club are to retrieve those items at the earliest convenience by contacting club manager during normal working hours.

Hylands has been a great place to curl for many many curlers during it’s 48 year existance. The Executive deeply regret any inconvience suffered by our members. Further details will be communicated as they become available.

Unfortunately this seems to be becoming a bit of a trend. As clubs age and require major repairs, new compressors or even simple renovations it is becoming increasingly difficult for some community clubs to survive. So far this year we have seen this story with Avonlea and now Hylands. It’s hopeful that a trend like this does not continue…

It’s out with the old and in with the new at the Royal Kingston Curling Club. The venerable club is moving into new digs this weekend, but for posterity’s sake here is a great look back at their old facility� that is worth checking out. Good luck with the new rink Kingston!

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* Updated 10/20/06 – Added Northern Ontario and cross-country listings (Canada & USA). � �

* Updated 10/06/06 – One of the key features of our new www.CurlingRink.ca site will be detailed curling club listings (not unlike our flagship golf course� directory www.OntGolf.ca). Here is a sneak peak, our research has included Ontario clubs so far, but we plan to expand out to a national cross-Canada database before the end of 2006 (10/06/06 – National database is now in place). � �

We hope you enjoy, here is a taste:

Southern Ontario
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Zone 5�
Zone 6
Zone 7
Zone 8
Zone 9�
Zone 10�
Zone 11
Zone 12
Zone 13
Zone 14
Zone 15
Zone 16

Northern Ontario
Sault Ste Marie & Wawa
Zone 18
Zone 19
Zone 20
Zone 21
Zone 22
Zone 23

Classic� Clubs

Brantford Golf & Country Club Brantford
St. George’s Golf & Country Club Islington
Mississaugua Golf & Country Club Mississauga
Weston Golf & Country Club Weston (Toronto)
Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club Ottawa

TORONTO – Avonlea Curling Club, the last of the 16-sheet curling facilities in Ontario, is closing its doors.
The owners, a private partnership, have sold the property on Railside Road in Don Mills, just steps from the Don Valley Parkway and Lawrence Avenue. The club will close on August 15, 2006.
Club Manager Dave Gardner said “The current owners received an offer they couldn’t refuse.” Gardner indicated that the club, which opened in 1961, was facing a number of repairs over the next few years, and “the current owners did not find it financially feasible to continue to operate it.”
Home to an estimated 1,500 curlers, Avonlea also enjoyed a championship pedigree. It was the home of the Dream Team, Ed “The Wrench” Werenich’s Toronto squad which dominated curling in the 1980s, winning the Brier and World championship in 1983.
Team member Paul Savage said “This is a sad day because I have a lot of great memories. I threw thousands of hours of practice rocks at Avonlea.”
The club was doing well with membership and was especially popular with recreational and industrial leagues. “Avonlea had approximately 30 rental leagues with 1,500 curlers, many of the other local curling clubs are already full and don’t have room to accommodate them,” Gardner said.
Ron Tolhurst, President of the Toronto Curling Association, brushed off suggestions that the closure is a bad sign for metropolitan curling. “Curling couldn’t be any stronger,” Tolhurst said. “Membership is exploding after the 2006 Olympics, and Hamilton is hosting the Brier in March. Growth is assured right up to Vancouver 2010. This is just part of the natural evolution of the sport in Toronto, which is unique to the country in its size and in competition for recreational dollars.”
The Toronto Curling Association (TCA) is a volunteer organization dedicated to the promotion of the sport of curling in the greater Toronto area. All 22 curling clubs in and around Toronto are members of the TCA.