Much like some of the Christmas lights hung out this time of year, activities at the Elmira and District Curling Club are about to take on a glow. Unlike your neighbour’s holiday light show, however, it’s contained to the club’s ice rink during today’s first glow-in-the-dark curling bonspiel, Broom Sticks & Glow Sticks.
The event will mark something of a departure for curling, which is rarely such a colourful affair. Though the sport already benefits from much interest in the community, some members of the Elmira club are itching to put some pizzazz into the game by curling in the dark with the aid of glowing props and glow sticks, said special events coordinator Melody Martin.
“It just makes for a fun way to curl. It’s like closing your eyes and curling in the dark.”
The organization has been working on plans since summer, finishing the setup in October. This weekend will find teams playing each other in the dark. The lines on the ice have been painted with fluorescent paint, painted paper pie plates will light up the tops of curling rocks, and the players will be decked out head-to-toe in layers of glow stick necklaces.
![Curlers Larry Martin (left) and Scott Coghlin hope glow-in-the-dark curling will get more people to their Curling 101 event on January 30. [Elena Maystruk / The Observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Post_SPORTS_Curling.jpg)
Making use of a $750 grant from the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival and sponsorship from the Junior Curling Program, Martin, her husband and friends researched what would be needed for the project, hoping to attract more people to the club and augment the junior program with the fun, new addition. Currently, the club enjoys interest from across the region, with approximately 220 members.
“Myself and my friend, we like to enter bonspiels with our husbands once a year. We found a bonspiel in Shelburne that offered glow-in-the-dark curling,
so we decided to try it out.
“We really enjoyed it so we brought the idea forth to our club and they accepted the proposal. Along with my friend and our husbands, we searched the lights that we needed to implement and we got the icemaker to paint the rings and the ice in fluorescent colours so the black lights would pick it up,” she explained of the process.
Is there a hazard with playing in the dark, and on the ice no less?
“Definitely not – there’s plenty of light in there. We’ve got it really lit up. The colours of the ice make it bright enough.”
Everyone in the league will be able to try their hand at glow-in-the-dark curling in the coming weeks as teams gear up for Christmas with special events. The equipment will also be pulled out for special occasions in the future.
Saturday’s bonspiel starts at 9 a.m. at the Elmira and District Curling Club, 40 Eldale Rd.
