Thanksgiving weekend means so many different things to so many different people.

In the realm that is the curling community in Sudbury, the October long weekend marks the unofficial launch to a new season for the sport locally, with the six area clubs all either hitting the ice or in their very final stages of planning for the ice-making process that is so anticipated from Coniston to Onaping Falls, from Capreol to the Copper Cliff – and points in between.

The Idylwylde Golf & Country Club got a jump on the field, their ice ready to go for Swing & Sweep last Saturday. It’s all part of the ongoing push for the well-established club which has been forced to dig themselves out of a self-imposed hole in recent years.

Now in his fifth year with the club, Curling Manager / Head Ice Technician Mike Assad acknowledged that the first two years of his tenure were far less than ideal when it came time for gazing out on to a promising future for curling at the Idylwylde.

“When I first came, we were dealing with Covid,” Assad recalled. “We lost some of our membership with all of the rules and regulations that went with that – and then the year after, the club started talking about cancelling curling at the Idylwylde altogether.”

“That did some damage to us. While we ultimately decided to keep curling, we did pay a price.”

Thankfully, the ensuing endorsement of the security of the sport at the pristine Walford Road venue was anything but tentative. “Our new GM (Paul Schweyer) and our board have really been putting a push on for curling to remain at the Idylwylde for the next one hundred years – and more,” said Assad.

“We have a beautiful facility. What a shame it would be to not have this club (involved in curling) any more.”

Like so many other athletic offerings in town, curling fights the battle against an array of options for people to occupy their time, in an active manner – far more choices than existed 20-30 years ago. With that in mind, new programs were developed to try and attract new curlers – all while recognizing some of the hindrances that make it difficult for interested folks to jump in, full bore.

Case in point: Wylde Wednesdays.

Under the guidance of the endless bundle of energy that is Amanda Gates, this drop-in league offers a palatable four-end option that is perfect for beginners who might be concerned about going all-in, right out of the gate.

Covering the range of the age spectrum, the Idylwylde also boasts a pair of pensioner leagues as well as their standard Little Rocks and Junior curling options. For kids who might aspire to be the next Tracy Fleury or Jake Horgan, the club is hosting a Junior Curling Fun Day on November 15th.

Open to youth ages six to 15, the $30 registration fee includes a pizza lunch, with participants asked only to show up with a pair of clean (running) shoes to wear on the ice and some form of head protection (go figure – ice can be slippery!).

On the more competitive side, the Sophie Perreault rink (Vivienne Bolestridge; Gracie Schmidt; Caitlyn Connors) have decided to up their game this year, mixing in a number of out of town bonspiels with their qualifying bonspiels for both U18 nationals as well as the Ontario Winter Games.

Without the benefit of any practice time before-hand, Team Perreault tackled the Rideau Trillium Championships in Ottawa last weekend, qualifying for the playoffs with a round-robin record of 2-2. Word out of the Idylwylde also has it that the Kameron Tellier rink remains in search of one more curler while Jake Crawford will skip a boys entry in the youth competitive ranks.

In addition to hosting the NOCA U20 championships from March 4th to the 8th, the Idylwylde also welcomes back the Edward Jones Cash Spiel (formerly the Malette Goring) in early January.

The U20 playdowns, of course, will give way to the U20 Canadian Curling Championships taking place at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex from March 28th to April 5th.

That set of nationals will be preceded by U20 Mixed Doubles, a relatively new tournament that will bring together four boys and four girls teams who have qualified out of play-in bonspiels in late November in Guelph (East) and Richmond (B.C. – West).

Heading up the local host committee for nationals once again this year, Kelly Irvine reminded us that volunteer registration should be available by the end of the month, with interested parties asked to visit any of the Northern Credit Union Community Centre social media sites for further information.

Irvine also noted that the NCUCC facility (formerly Curl Sudbury / Sudbury Curling Club) is currently in the final stages of ice preparation, with most leagues set to start up between October 20th and the 26th. With the city expected to be immersed in the U20 nationals in late March, NCUCC has decided to move “The Spiel” from its traditional slot at the end of the season to the weekend of October 17th – 19th, with a 24-team field featuring a number of out of town entries.

The very next weekend, the same venue is hosting a two-tier mixed doubles bonspiel that is expected to feature Canadian curling legend Jennifer Jones and partner Brent Laing.

Finally, speaking of curling legends (to be – if not already), Tracy Fleury might soon need to hire a full-time coordinator for her media commitments, such are the accolades and achievements that the pride of Sudbury is amassing.

At the same time that the City of Greater Sudbury was celebrating Tracy Fleury Day in recognition of the two-time national and world champion, the club where it all began was also adding to her resume. The Idylwylde Golf & Country Club was pleased to announce, earlier this week, that Fleury has been awarded an Honourary Lifetime Curling Membership “in recognition of her exceptional international achievements and her outstanding contributions to the sport of curling and the Greater Sudbury community”.

This, of course, right on the heels of back to back bonspiel victories for Team (Rachel) Homan, who bounced back from a semi-final loss at the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic to take top spot at both the AMJ Masters in London as well as the Points Bet Invitational in Calgary.