The grand opening of a brand new outdoor crokicurl rink located at Riverdene Park took place this morning.

There were various members of the city in attendance including counselor Ryan Plewis, Chair of Curling Canada Mitch Minken, and former Olympic curler Kelly Schafer.

The game of crokicurl was actually invented here in Canada and is a large scale hybrid of curling and the board game Crokinole

Minken says the new venue provides a great opportunity to introduce people to the sport of curling.

"This is a great opportunity for people to get outdoors and try something new and know that curling is going on in our community and this might lead to somebody trying this and then wanting to come down to the curling rink and give it a try on the real ice."

As the Chair of Curling Canada, Minken added that one of Curling Canada's objectives is to grow the game of curling at all levels and so if something like this sport piques people's interest to give curling a try it is right within the objective.

City counselor Ryan Plewis echoed Minken's enthusiasm for the new venue saying that "during these times where there are fewer options of what we can do together, having an additional outdoor venue is a welcome addition to the city's rec, parks, and culture offering." 

Today was the first day that the rink had available time slots for booking and all of the slots are filled. 

"It's a pretty simple thing we can do as a community to put a new facility in at a pretty inexpensive dollar value and it gets a lot of use so as a council member I am happy we are offering this to the community," added Plewis. 

Schafer mentioned that after throwing her first few stones she actually found the game harder than curling and said anything that helps to outdoor family activities is a good thing. 

"I think anything that promotes the sport is a good thing and anything that promotes outdoor activity and things that kids can come and do and take part in is really good. Swift Current is so lucky that we have such great outdoor space and so just adding to that recreation component where there is something else that we can all come and take part in and have fun is obviously a positive"

Those wishing to book a time slot to try their hand at Crokicurl can do so by visiting the city's website at www.swiftcurrent.ca 

File Photo

File Photo

File Photo