A history of pulling off excellent events has the Melfort Curling Club back at it again, hosting the Viterra Scotties Women’s Provincial Curling Championship.
The club hosted the junior provincials last winter and the men’s tankard in 2013.
“We’re always in conversation with CurlSask as far as hosting different provincial events here,” said Corrie Fischl, the organizing committee’s chair. “We’re pretty proud of the Northern Lights Palace. We like to show it off and this is a pretty good way to do it.”
The women’s championship will be held at the Northern Lights Palace starting Jan. 2, going until Jan. 7. Nine teams will compete in a round-robin to try to earn the top spot in the province. Across the street, at the curling club, there will be a lounge. On Jan. 5 and 6, there will be cabarets.
“It’s a full week,” Fischl said. “It will be busy, it will be fun.”
The early date of this year’s championship is due to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea happening in February.
The club has wrapped up its sponsorship drive. Fischl said the local community has been fantastic.
“Any curling club can say that without hosting events like this, it’s pretty tough to keep the doors open, so we’re pretty fortunate that our community supports us like that.”
What the club does need is volunteers – something they want to get done before Christmas. Those interested can pick up a form at the club, download a form from their website or phone the club at 306-752-2779.
Ticket are also on sale, both at the club and online. The club is reminding people the event passes work well as Christmas gifts.
Mark Shurek, an expert icemaker who does his task at championships all over the nation, will be in Melfort Dec. 28 and 29. Shurek has been at the Northern Lights Palace doing his work before.
The club will also be working with their sister club in Tisdale to make the event a success.
“We work with the Tisdale club often on different events like this. We use them as our backup, they use us as theirs,” Fischl said. “They’ve always been helpful to us. We’ve always had volunteers come out and help us from the Tisdale club and people have gone from our club as well to assist in different things that they run.”
The two clubs have purchased carpeting together just for hosting events like these.
