The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
More than half a century of tradition has come to an end with the Willow Park Curling Club's decision to amalgamate with the Uptown Curling Club. Willow Park members have voted 61 per cent in favour of moving to the Uptown rink beginning this fall. The ballots were counted Tuesday night. "For anybody who's curled there for a lot of years, it's sad to see it come to an end," said John Munson, a member for nearly 40 years. Of the club's 205 members, 120 cast votes. Sixty-one per cent were in favour of closing Willow Park, 31 per cent were opposed, and eight per cent wanted to keep the rink open for another year before the closure. The results surprised club president Bev Lantz, who felt the majority would choose to remain in the 54-year-old rink on Spruce Avenue. "I think it's sad to see Willow Park closing. Unfortunately, it's come down to that," she said. See 'Merger' P.# Con't from P.# The Willow Park and Uptown clubs are being asked to contribute a combined $290,000 for the Communityplex, which would be built beside the Phantom Lake Golf Course starting next spring at the earliest. But since the new recreational complex is not a sure thing, the plan is to have the Willow Park rink remain standing until the fate of the Communityplex is known. If the project fizzles, Munson said, the club would want the option of revisiting the situation and possibly renovating or rebuilding the rink. Assuming all of the curlers from both clubs renew their memberships this fall, the Uptown rink will become home to about 470 curlers. Dave Kendall of the Uptown Curling Club welcomes the merger, saying there is strength in numbers. "From our club's point of view, I think it's a very positive thing," he said. "We certainly don't utilize the ice that we have effectively. Certainly we have room in the facility and I think it makes a lot of sense to go ahead with a combined club." Not only will the influx of new curlers benefit the Uptown club financially, Kendall said, but they will also help foster friendly on-ice rivalries. "The competition is certainly going to be as good as it can be with all of the teams curling in one club," he said. Kendall said the hope is that the merger will also help the curlers accumulate the funds they are being asked to contribute toward the Communityplex. The Willow Park Curling Club opened in 1950 with, according to the book Flin Flon, a membership of 200 men and women. The members assisted with the construction of the rink, main waiting room, and later with renovations to accommodate the lounge and additional locker rooms, the book states. If a rock is never again thrown at the rink, Willow Park will be the third curling rink to be lost to the local area in recent years. The other two were the Ross Lake Curling Club and the Creighton Curling Club.
