Curling season started again in October at the Humboldt Curling Club.
With six leagues in operation and a youth league about to start up, the six sheets of ice located in the Uniplex are used regularly over the short, six-month season.
Yet the club is skating on "thin ice" right now, with a declining membership and a lease that still has to be paid.
"We don't have as many as we did 10 years ago or 20 years ago, that's for sure," said the club's manager, Lois Kalthoff, "but that's the case with all the curling clubs."
Kalthoff, along with Corinne Kennedy and Gary Engele, are the three co-managers of the club. Kalthoff's husband, Kevin, a former curling champion and still an active curler, is the ice technician.
The couple's duties seem to keep them at the club a lot. Lois is always in the office, and if she's not, she may be found tending the bar, while husband Kevin never strays too far from the sheets of ice. If he's not helping out with the leagues, he's keeping the ice clean and the equipment in order.
The club has a regular men's cash league as well as a men's league that just plays for fun, a women's super league, a Monday night fun league for beginners or people who just want to have fun! There is a seniors' league that meet in the afternoons, and a new business league that just started up.
So why the decline in popularity for the sport?
Both Kalthoff and her husband feel that with so many choices these days available for young people in sport, curling doesn't have the same profile it used to enjoy.
"Thirty years ago, or fifty years ago, really what was there?" Kalthoff asked.
"There was skating and curling in the winter, that's it. So I think that's probably the main reason."
As far as their leagues go, Kalthoff says the club is "kind of holding its own" with its membership, yet the cost of renting the space from the city still has to be met. Fewer curlers makes that more difficult.
Besides bonspiels and socials throughout the season, this year the club is hosting the Scotties Provincial Ladies' Tournament, January 25-29, 2012. It's an important curling event that the three managers hope will be a success and help generate some money for the club, but holding this event is also a bit of a risk-taking enterprise, Kalthoff says.
"The SaskPower Scotties Ladies' Provincial is something that is sanctioned by the Saskatchewan Curling Association," she explained. "In order for us to even have this event here, we are paying a hosting fee of $5,000.
"And we're looking for any volunteers from the community who would be willing to help out with this event."
Coming up next at the club, on the weekend of December 2, 3 and 4, Humboldt is hosting the Saskatchewan Curling Tour bonspiel. According to co-manager Engele, it's another noteworthy tournament and an opportunity to watch some of the best men's teams in the province.
"A lot of great teams, competitive teams from across the province are coming to curl here that weekend," said Engele, enthusiastically. "Great curling for people to come and watch, and a chance to see some of the best men's teams in the province."
