CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE Jan. 31, 2019
On Jan. 31, the Shawville Curling Club kicked off another Community Bonspiel, keeping alive a 44-year-old tradition. The three sheets were filled with players from up and down the 148, all competing for the famous toilet seat trophy.
Organizer Ian MacKechnie said that this year there were 48 teams competing across eight divisions.
“It fluctuates every year but 48 has been a good number for the past couple of years,” he said.
Many local businesses and community organizations were represented among the squads, playing games over the span of two weeks, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 10. MacKechnie said that many hours are spent by the organizing committee matching the teams by skill level and accommodating everyone’s schedules.
“The hardest part is getting the times,” he said. “It’s a few hours, yeah. Rick [Younge]’s good at helping get the teams lined up, getting them in divisions.”
This year the games were shortened to six ends, as a full eight can be a daunting task for new curlers.
MacKechnie was appreciative of all the help he got from the organizing committee, and added that this year’s tournament was in honour of the club’s longest standing member, Brian ‘Bucky’ Harris.
Harris had just gotten off the ice from a game and explained that he got his membership 51 years ago in 1968. He recalled the previous building that used to stand approximately perpendicular to the current club.
“There used to be an old curling club here, two-sheeter,” he said. “It was a private club, so unless you were a member you couldn’t even come in the club.”
During the construction of the current building, Harris was approached by the members and the rest is history.
“At the time I was working for Pontiac Electric and their office was where Tom Fraser’s office is now,” he said, gesturing down Lang Street towards Pontiac Ice. “They came over and said, ‘Do you want to give us a hand?’ We helped them put the lights up, and I got talked into starting to curl. We just went from there.”
Harris commented on how much the game has changed since his early years, both in technique and technology. Players used to use corn brooms and many didn’t even slide out of the hack when making a shot.
“It was funny, when we started to curl, nobody slid. They just sat in the hack,” he said, noting that he decided to learn after attending a bonspiel in Ottawa. “In three years time, three young fellas won the competitive [league] because we learned how to slide.”
He said that the Community Bonspiel was started as a fundraiser when the club was having trouble paying its mortgage, and remains one of the main events in the calendar to this day.
“Billy Kuehl, he went aournd to everybody,” Harris said. “I think it was 48 [teams] the first year, but it eventually got as high as 72.”
“It’s lasted 44 years and we still have 48 teams,” he continued. “That’s amazing, usually something like that dies out but it’s held on.”
