The Year 2004 – We were curling at our local curling club in the Steinbach Mixed Bonspiel. The weekend was filled with the smell of good tasting food, burgers, hot soup, coffee, donuts, Caesars, beer and popcorn.
With a full draw, curling started at 8 am in the morning until 10 pm at night both Friday and Saturday. When we weren’t on the ice curling, there was plenty of entertainment otherwise. Upstairs a large crowd of people gathered for card games, dice, watching the Tim Hortons Brier on the television, socializing, and watching the curling thru the glass down below. Saturday evening dinner was provided, along with fun entertainment of trivia games, costumes, music and even maybe dancing.
Most memorable was Sunday. An eventful day full of semi finals and finals. The upstairs was crowded with the curling audience and curlers from all over. Our young daughters, one and three years old, shared and were part of this memorable event and day. They enjoyed all the attention and love and were crowd pleasers, responsible for many of the smiles as on lookers watched below the glass in between commercials and on the TV above. Also present and not wanting to miss out on the excitement, beer and popcorn, was Mr. Barkman, a friendly familiar face to the curling club. Well into his 80’s he climbed the stairs and grabbed a sit on the bench behind the glass.
The glass was layered with eyes watching all the great shot making down below and turning to the TV above. Knees were full of children, parents on benches and a gallery of fans standing behind watching and chiming in on every last shot of each curling game. On TV a memorable week and final Tim Hortons Brier game, for Marc Dacey, Nova Scotia skip. We watched in awe as Marc made OUTSTANDING shot after shot, NOT MISSING and bringing down Alberta’s Team Randy Firby to be named 2004 Tim Hortons Brier Champ. What a game it was!!!
Next up, our mixed team stepped onto the ice in final of the mixed bonspiel to soon be declared A side finalist!!! One last time we headed upstairs for a victory drink with our losing opponents and bought them a drink with the money from the winning envelopes. We collected our daughters, brooms and jackets and headed home with our hearts full from the fun, laughter, and great shot making. A memory to cherish thanks to curling. Thanks to curling! LOVE Curling.
I trust anyone with passion for curling will be able to picture this memory.
Though not relevant my picture is of the Continental Cup Las Vegas also a great memory! 🙂