(Brady Lang/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Brady Lang

state of curling in Saskatchewan

The state of curling in Saskatchewan: A Biggar problem than expected

Mar 14, 2019 | 5:07 PM

Yesterday, we took a look at the game of curling from the elite level, and CurlSask’s stance on how the game is growing in part one of a three-part series. Today, we’re going to look at the hot bed of Curling in Saskatchewan. Biggar has produced some of the best curlers in the province, nation and world. Even they are having problems keeping the doors open, and curlers on the ice.

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TeeJay Surik, Rory Golanowski, Colton Flasch, Anita and Robyn Silvernagle, and of course, Sandra Schmirler.

All of these curlers have competed on the national stage and all have one thing in common – they’re from the town of Biggar.

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Despite a population of just over 2,100, the town has produced some of the province’s, nation’s and world’s best curlers. The game of curling runs rampant in the town and is etched so deeply in its roots. For the town just under 100 kilometres south of North Battleford, it bodes well to the sustained success of curling in the area.

But how is it now, after all their success, the town still struggles to keep the doors of their local curling club open?

Brett Barber still curls out of the Biggar Curling Club and is an avid volunteer, continuing to build the game from the ground up in the town. She recently started a Learn to Curl program, which continues to grow for curlers of all ages.

Barber received a donation from Prairie Sky Outfitters to start the program, which she said has gone extremely well.

“I started with about 12 kids. By the end, over 25 kids were coming out every week,” she said.

There’s also the ability for parents and seniors to come out and learn to curl.

The interest is there, she said, but every month it costs them roughly $10,000 to keep the lights on and the curling rink alive.

The Biggar Curling Club is club owned and a non-profit that does what it can to pay its bills and stay afloat. They do get a little bit of help from the town and surrounding rural municipality, but that doesn’t cut it.

Barber said there’s tons of hard work that’s put in to keep things running at the club.

“Without fundraising, without league fees and bar sales, and bonspiels, the club doesn’t stay open,” she said.

Biggar has struggled rejuvenating bonspiels after a long hiatus. Last year’s ladies bonspiel came after 10 years. They raised $6,000 in 2018, and just last weekend had their now annual bonspiel. It brought in $9,500, which is almost an entire month’s effort to keep the curling club afloat.

Their league fees continue to keep things going with the 65 members continuously putting money back into the community. Mixed doubles was added on Friday league nights, but the response was minimal. Barber hopes it continues to grow and gets more people involved in the game.

“I really loved the change in strategy in the game, and how fast-paced it was. As each year goes, it’s going to become more popular,” she said.

Some believe the lack of interest comes after the government’s crackdown on impaired driving. Some don’t chance a night out anymore for fear of being over the legal limit.

Barber said its definitely not a determining factor, and shouldn’t be, but there is now a hit to their liquor sales.

“A couple years ago, you could have (a few) drinks and still legally drive. Now, you cannot,” she said. “You’re drawing from rural areas where people can’t come to the rink, have a couple drinks and socialize and go home.”

In terms of grants, Barber said Biggar hasn’t looked too much into it. It’s always been in the back of their mind but it must be a consistent watch. At the same time, it’s tough to look and specifically say that a town is guaranteed a grant. Barber says, this isn’t just a Biggar problem, however.

She also pointed to societal changes.

“All clubs would feel like their struggling,” she said. “Curling clubs (used to be) open five, six or seven days a week. Now, as lives get busier and busier, adults don’t have enough time to come in for themselves.”

Recently, a member of CurlSask started a group on Facebook to connect these hard-working volunteers to bounce ideas off one another. Networking, seeing what’s going right and seeing what’s going wrong is key to attempt to figure out this problem. For Barber, she knows it’s time to let go but not forget those long-standing ideas that just don’t work in today’s world.

“It’s about recreating, and having new bloods that want to put in the work. I know that’s really hard in small towns, and clubs, where somebody has done the same thing forever,” she said.

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Tomorrow, battlefordsNOW will take a look at what’s going to need to be done moving forward and how the popularity of new, local superstars can help the game.

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brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangBFN