Wainwright – The annual Wainwright and District Oilmen’s Bonspiel will take place from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. It will be the 37thannual version of the bonspiel.
It’s also safe to speculate event chair Mitch Wahlberg’s Caradan Chemicals team is not likely to be lead story in our next edition when the results are known, based on what happened a year ago.
“We didn’t even win a game,” said Wahlberg in advance of the tournament to be held at the Wainwright Curling Club – with his fingers
crossed.
“Hopefully, I can get a set of ringers to come on my team with me this year or something.” Our Wainwright reporting crew will break the news of the actual outcome in the March edition.
Prior to the event Wahlberg told Pipeline News he was confident his committee would draw at least 20 teams. Last year, a hockey tournament held during the bonspiel robbed four teams of curlers so that wasn’t going to happen again on Wahlberg’s watch in 2015.
It was ironic since the event moved from its previous slot in November to late January a few years ago as families were too busy with hockey before Christmas and other
sports that their kids played.
“Hopefully we can get up to 20. There are no conflicting events this year. We’re expecting better numbers,” said Wahlberg on Jan. 12. His committee allows teams to register right up to a few days before the action takes place.
“We take as many teams as we can get. The more the merrier,” he said adding it could be more if the low of price of oil idles workers.
“We were talking about that in our meeting. You can go either way,” said Wahlberg. “Either everybody’s going to be thinking that they have to work as much as possible before it shuts down or there might be lots of guys with some free time.”
The bonspiel could have been marketed as an escape from reality for oilfield workers in Wainwright as prices dive to lows not seen since the recession of 2008 and 09.
“People are just concerned,” said Wahlberg in his region. “They’re hoping it comes up a little bit. Everyone’s liking the low gas prices, but at the same time they’re worried
about job security.” Wahlberg is a technical sales rep for Caradan that sells production treating chemicals from light oil to heavy oil.
He sells a lot of corrosion and scale inhibitors and de-waxing chemicals in the area that has been busy with oilfield activity up until the last two months.
He recalls in the latter part 2014 “seeing more drilling rigs around than I’ve seen in a few years around the local Wainwright area.”
Wahlberg noted there have also been a lot of new oilfield related businesses pop up in the past year. What doesn’t change he said is strong oilfield support for the bonspiel with sponsorships and prizes. “We always get lot of support from the surrounding oil companies and stuff. Every year we get good prizes. It’s never a problem with that,” said Wahlberg.
The event includes a banquet and dance and a silent auction of donated items. The top raffle prize is usually a TV or a tablet – something electronic according to
Wahlberg. “It seems to go over the best. We used to do a trip, but there’s not too many travel agents to do that anymore because
everyone just books online,” he said.
Wahlberg also had nothing but praise for his committee members and those who have kept the bonspiel alive and fresh over 37 editions. “It’s an oilfield town and everybody’s supporting us. That’s the biggest thing,” he reasoned.
