Submitted by Creston Curling Club
During the Dec. 3 to 5 weekend, the Creston Curling Club was able to raise over $10,000 through the generous support of 24 local teams, businesses, and curling friends in the Creston Valley. They all came together to enjoy a fun weekend of curling that included a meat shoot on Friday night sponsored by Pealow’s, a silent auction, a pizza social, an ugly sweater contest sponsored by Activity Base, and a Draw to the Button Contest on Saturday.
The silent auction was held in the Curling Center Lounge from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. A total of 65 items were donated by the curling teams and supporting businesses, which included Wild North Brewing, Jimmy’s Pub & Grill, Creston Golf Course, Tim’s Fish & Chips, Frisky Whisky, and others. The auction raised over $3,000.
All teams enjoyed the pizza social that occurred from 6 to 8 p.m. The winner of the ugly sweater contest was Team Hagenfeldt. The Draw to the Button Contest shared $250 (150/75/25) in cash for the best three throws from the participating teams. The best three throw came from Wayne Harris (Team Meekes), Jonathon Robins (Team O’Connor), and Chris Ducharme.
The six-event Open Cash Bonspiel ended on Sunday with 12 teams competing in the finals. The bonspiel A Event winner was the Chris Ducharme rink with Greg Terrill’s team finishing in second. Sandy Thompson’s team won the B Event with Woody Duncalfe’s rink finishing second. In the C Event, Dave Drennan’s and Chris Jenson’s teams tied, and in the D Event, Jim Macaulay’s team defeated Paul Meekes’ team. The Vern Ronmark team defeated the Terry O’Connor team to win the E Event. Randy Samuelson’s team defeated the Norm Fahselt’s team to win the F Event.
In the closing presentations, in a very emotional show of support, over $1,500 was donated back to the bonspiel committee, which was then passed on to the Curling Club president, Terry Webster. The donations included other cash winnings from the Draw to the Button, 50/50’s, RR games, and cash prizes from the six event finalists. The proceeds (after expenses) coming from this bonspiel will be used to improve the clubs’ financial position due to the suspension of the 2020/21 season because of the pandemic.
It is the goal of the organizing committee to have the Creston Curling Centre host an open cash bonspiel every fall, in the future, with proceeds going to a local charity in the Creston Valley. The organizing committee wants to thank all Creston Curling Club curlers, volunteers, sponsors, and business friends, who supported in this fundraising bonspiel. Without your generous support, this great financial contribution to the Creston Curling Club would not have happened.