Foremost Curling Club still throwing a strong rock

Posted on February 9, 2022 by 40 Mile Commentator

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

The Foremost Curling Club’s focus has been to provide a place for people to curl , says president Steven Hougen.

Recent years have seen it’s up and downs due to COVID.

“Well last year was tough because we didn’t put our ice in due to COVID—so that was a tough year,” said Hougen.

“But this year with being able to curl and previous years, the community looks at it as —like I said mostly the Civic Centre in general with curling ice and hockey ice— one of the main attractions of the winter where people can gather and socialize and have somewhere to be.”

The Curling Club has seven teams this year who play in an open league and play host to a mixed and men’s bonspiel annually.

“Yeah, it’s going pretty good,” said Hougen.

“There are other community-minded people help out a lot. It’s all volunteers running the maintenance of the ice along with the curling lounge and the dressing rooms. So, without volunteers, none of it would be possible for sure.”

Aside from COVID, the curling club has been experiencing challenges with costs of operating the facility.

Hougen said with numbers not being as high as they used to be, and even with steady numbers, the cost is getting so high.

“That’s going to be our main priority moving forward is trying to keep our costs as low as possible, so we can continue to curl with the  numbers we have,” he said.

Curlers age anywhere from just out of high school all the way up to 80 years old.

“We’re always looking for people that are interested in the sport,” said Hougen.

Hougen thinks it’s really important for a community to have access to numerous sports and things for people to do.

The curling season goes from November to March.

Hougen can be contacted at (403) 647-1499 for information.