This past weekend was one of curling, and a great deal of levity and recreation for many in the Estevan area.
Fourteen local teams hit the ice at the fifth annual Estevan Corporate Bonspiel at the Power Dodge CurMarch 10 and 11. Participants on teams representing an assortment of different businesses curled against one another. The bonspiel provided everyone — even those who don’t regularly get a chance to curl — a chance to compete and partake in the fun.
“It’s called a corporate bonspiel, but people can enter under their business names or individually. It’s a total fun event. We play six-end games, which of course, are less than regular games,” said Pauline Ziehl Grimsrud, manager of the Estevan Curling Club.
Ziehl Grimsrud noted that the bonspiel was for everyone, from people who curl competitively to those who are just learning how to curl. Curlers ranged in age from 15 to people in their 70s on the ice throughout the weekend. Each team was guaranteed the opportunity to play at least three games, so everyone involved got a satisfactory amount of time on the ice.
In addition to the curling itself, participants partook in a Monopoly-board-themed Curling-opoly, through which they could win prizes by meeting certain criteria during their games, and landing on certain spots on the ice surface that corresponded with squares on an imitation of a Monopoly board.
“We had really good participation. People seemed to have a lot of fun, and we had a nice meal with it,” said Ziehl-Grimsrud. “There were cash prizes, and prizes from the Monopoly board we played. Since this is our fifth year, people have a good understanding of how the Monopoly board works, how to move around on it to win prizes.”
Ziehl-Grimsrud noted there has been growing interest in the bonspiel, but added, “there are only so many weekends in the year. We have some pretty stable numbers attending every year, through, with between 14 and 16 teams, so this year has been pretty good.”
The overall winners in the weekend bonspiel included JKL farms in the A division, Tarpon Energy Services in the B event and Phair Oilfield Tank Truck Service in the C event.
