It鈥檚 been 90 years since the Jasper Curling Club first emerged in Jasper, and no one knows its history better than former member, and collector of memorabilia, Sandy Robinson.
At his home in Jasper, Robinson scanned the yellowing ledgers that hold hand-written minutes of the club鈥檚 earliest meetings. He stopped at one record from the early twenties.
Among the stylized cursive script sat a detailed list of potential skips and team members. Robinson noted that at the time, the club didn鈥檛 even know if they would have a rink to curl in, and yet they were already planning teams.
鈥淭hey were all set to go,鈥� he said with a chuckle.
Those early, enthusiastic meetings led to the creation of the 58-member Jasper Park Curling Club on Oct. 24, 1924. Itching to start slinging rocks, club members whisked away a letter to park superintendent S. M. Rogers asking permission to build a curling rink in town.
But they had trouble securing the lease from the park, and had to quash their plans for the season. That year, club members were so eager to start curling they considered everything from flooding a hotel basement for ice, to cobbling together an outdoor rink.
In 1925, two years after the first meeting, the club finally finished building a three-sheet curling rink. A year later, the Jasper Ladies Curling Club formed, and the club held its first bonspiel.
In the 50s, the club was an unfortunate victim of Parks Canada鈥檚 plans for a pool in Jasper, and had to relocate across the street. Robinson said they did that in a multi-day ordeal by plunking the building onto some large trucks and moving it 鈥渁ll in one fell swoop.鈥�
Not long after, club members upgraded the building, adding more ice, artificial cooling and better kitchen facilities.
Robinson, whose father was a skilled curler and early member of the club, remembers picking up the stones in his early teens. He remembers those days as ones where most players had their own set of rocks, and bonspiel prizes were treated buffalo furs.
鈥淭hat was 70 years ago,鈥� he reflected, noting that the beating heart of curling has always been the company.
鈥淸The club] was the social place to be鈥攅specially in the winter,鈥� Robinson said, explaining that the great company, the free-flowing booze and the top-notch concessions, run by the ladies club, drew people in.
鈥淟ots of people went to the rink just to eat,鈥� he said.
Mary Hilworth joined the club in the 60s. She remembers a vibrant and busy club, recalling bonspiels with more than 100 teams from across the province rolling into town to compete.
鈥淭hey were all fun; lots of curling; quite a bit of booze, and, you know, just a general good time,鈥� she said, pausing before adding, 鈥淚 never won one, I was a social curler.鈥�
Robinson remembered one particular Prince George tournament that was occasionally won by Jasper curlers, because the trophy was the gigantic Kelly Cup. Digging out an old newspaper clipping, he tapped his finger on a picture of the trophy.
鈥淭his holds 26 bottles of whiskey; 26 26ers,鈥� he said. He explained the post-tournament tradition was to plunk the cup on a table, fill it with booze, and have someone stand on the table and ladle it out to tournament finalists.
In the 70s, the club was still going strong when it was forced to relocate once again; this time to the newly constructed Jasper Activity Centre.
鈥淲e lost something when we left the old building,鈥� Robinson said. The club no longer had its own concessions or its own building, and Robinson said it no longer felt like the members were their own bosses.
While there were drawbacks, Hilworth and others saw it as an upgrade.
鈥淲e had some decent space: better ice, better lights, better everything鈥攊t was certainly an upswing to the club,鈥� she said. Not to mention the fact that they also upgraded to eight sheets of ice.
The club remained strong in the new location for awhile, but eventually membership began to decline, to the point that, in 2005, four of its eight sheets of ice were repurposed, and are now used by the gymnastics club.
Long-time club ice maker Wally Kortzman said that while it was kind of sad, the move made sense. The sheets were only being used for bonspiels, he said, and the declining membership just couldn鈥檛 justify all the sheets.
Kortzman explained that while a lot of the members were peeved with the decision, 鈥淚 think everybody finally saw the light and realized we were doing the right thing.鈥�
Although the club is smaller than in its heyday, its history as a heart of the community still shines through in its welcoming atmosphere.
鈥淕randpa鈥� Dong Han has been a member for 10 years, a newbie by many standards. He said the club鈥檚 members taught him everything he needed to know about the game and over the years, he has made amazing friends at the club, who have helped him feel at home in Jasper.
鈥淭he most important thing for me is this is the first step for someone like me to become a part of the community. I appreciate all of them because they accept me as their friend,鈥� he said.
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Jasper is celebrating many important milestones this year and next. To mark each of them, the 51暗网 is featuring stories about the groups, clubs, organizations, events and buildings marking major anniversaries in the next 12 months. To catch up on past stories, visit fitzhugh.ca and click the header 鈥淛asper Celebrates鈥� on the main page.
Trevor Nichols
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