Although it has been a couple of years since the Drumheller Curling Club building came down, the organization has been wrapping up the non-profit club and had their final gathering on Tuesday, September 2nd.
Members of the executive along with a number of long time curlers met at the site of the former curling club, where their new dinosaur “Curly” is placed. The association has been fortunate to be able to pay it forward to a number of local organizations. According to Larry Needham from the Drumheller Curling Club, they are happy to help other groups in the valley. “The fundraising that over the period of the last two years in the hope of being able to constructing of a new facility, and when it was deemed that it wasn’t viable, we had somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80,000 dollars that we had to disperse. We looked at a number of community associations around the valley and held a vote with a list and asked what is your one, two, three selection.” Needham believes all on the list will receive a donation of some sort and the curling club is proud to leave a lasting legacy with those groups.
The location where “Curly” is located has been the home of curling for over 70 years. “The building was first open in 1953,” shares Needham. “The first bonspiel that was held here in 1954, consisted of 96 teams from all over Alberta and BC. In the banquet that was held in the third day of the bonspiel, they served 64 turkeys and 400 pounds of potatoes. It gives you an idea of that event, which even became bigger as time went on.”
Drumheller’s curling history will not be lost as they have a new display at the Badlands Historical Centre, according to Needham. “We felt that all of the trophies, the photos, and memorabilia that were in the (curling club) had to go somewhere. We didn’t want to see it trashed as there is so much historical significance too. Some of the ex-mayors, some of the more prominent families like the Sheddy’s, the Toschack’s and the Swain’s, founders of the community, were in that building and on those trophies. We thought we had to keep that legacy going.”
The organizations that have been supported by the Drumheller Curling Club are the Drumheller & Area Health Foundation, Valley Cruisers, Carbon Curling Club, Midland Community Hall Association, Badlands Trail Society, Badlands Historical Society, the Pioneer Trail Centre, and the Drumheller Girls Softball Association.
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