This winter is the first curling season the new ice plant has been in use at the rink.

President Larry Rainnie says overall the plant has been working just fine. “This new plant project was in the works for a number of years because the old plant used a gas no longer allowed to be used for environmental reasons.” 

Rainnie said the old plant was quite old and went well beyond the number of years it was expected to remain in use at the curling club. 

The cost of the new ice plant was just short of $200,000 and the club has managed to raise most of those funds already. 

“Along with the plant we had to make some alterations to our structure and upgrade some of the infrastructure for the coolant and so on. So, we’re now looking at a bill of around $220,000 and right now we’re looking at about $20,000 to $25,000 to pay off” said Rainnie. 

“This project happened because of support from the community. That came in the form of donations and grants from individuals, organizations and various levels of government.” 

Larry Rainnie points out the new ice plant required an internet connection, so the curling club executive decided to get a router and provide free Wi-Fi to people using the rink. 

As for the number of people using the curling ice Larry Rainnie says second half numbers have dropped off. “We usually lose some curlers with people heading to the sunny south and we’ve had a few teams that curled before Christmas not back for the second half of the season.” 

“Regarding our junior program we had more than 30 people participating at the start and right now we’re in the mid 20’s. Activities draw students into different things but it’s good to see the junior program up and running.”