ESTEVAN — The Slide into Spring Spiel at the Power Dodge Curling Centre attempted to sweep winter away despite the weather trying to bury the Power Dodge Curling Centre under snowbanks last weekend.
The fun curling event was slated for March 10-11, however, due to a blizzard that hit the southeast on the same days, the teams started playing Friday evening, but then postponed the rest of the activities until Sunday.
"We got curling Friday evening and had our Friday evening as scheduled. But unfortunately, due to the weather, we were not able to go Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, like scheduled, but we postponed for a day and we went on Sunday," said Estevan Curling Club manager Pauline Ziehl Grimsrud. "We were fortunate that everybody was able to fit it in on their schedule."
Eight teams participated in the curling part of the Slide into Spring Spiel, and even more people came to watch and joined curlers for a festive supper.
"We had a really nice crowd here all weekend," Ziehl Grimsrud said.
The 11th annual Slide into Spring Spiel saw six-end games, a steak supper, a curl-opoly board and cross ice shoot out.
"It was really a lot of fun. We had lots of great curling, and we had lots of prizes. People were having a good time. We had our Monopoly board, it's actually called the curl-opoly board. So, we played that and everybody had a good time getting around with their markers and winning prizes there too," Ziehl Grimsrud said Monday. "And then we were able to bring the barbecue in from Bert Baxter's yesterday, and we had a barbecue steak supper. It was delicious."
Slide into Spring is a very casual event. It's the only bonspiel of its kind for the Estevan Curling Club every year, where the focus is on fun and friendship rather than the sports side of the game.
"It's just about getting together, having fun and seeing different people from the club that curl on different nights. And we had visitors [joining us], so it was a really nice weekend," Ziehl Grimsrud said.
She also thanked everyone that supported their fun event and helped it happen.
"Thank you to the people who volunteered and donated and special thanks to Bert Baxter's for their barbecue again this year, we very much enjoyed it," Ziehl Grimsrud said.
"And thank you to the City of Estevan; they cleaned in front of our door [and around] here, so we were able to get in and able to have the event on Sunday. We appreciate that."
The club still has two weeks of regular league curling left, and then the Estevan Oilfield Technical Society will host its 64th annual open bonspiel on March 24-25.
