CURLING
RETURNS TO
SARANAC
LAKE
WINTER CARNIVAL
Adirondack
Arc Sponsors Curling Event
On
Saturday, February 5, the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival will reprise
one of the oldest of Winter Carnival Events - the sport of curling -
on
Lake
Flower
. At 11 a.m., the Lake
Placid Curling Club and the Tupper Lake Curling Club will meet on
the ice near the
Ice
Palace
to compete in the first Adirondack Curling Outdoor Invitational
Tournament, hosted by The Adirondack Curling Corporation and
sponsored by The Adirondack Arc.
Jim
Griebsch, President of Adirondack Curling, said “ It seems natural
that curling be a part of Winter Carnival this year.
Curling came to
Saranac
Lake
in 1897, one year before the first Winter Carnival, and was
undoubtedly a part of the festivities in the early years.”
Event
Manager, Jim Edmonds, was a little more pragmatic, saying “I am
just hoping that it is not too cold on the 5th.
Today we generally play indoors, but curling was originally
an outdoor Scottish sport. We
will curl no matter what the weather is – but if it is too cold,
our bagpiper’s reeds may freeze!”
Curling
is a sport with customs of etiquette and ceremony.
Carnival attendees will not want to miss the 11 a.m. start of
the match - 32 curlers follow a bagpiper down
Main Street
and
River Street
and onto the ice for the traditional coin toss ceremony, with hand
shaking and greetings of “Good Curling” for every member of the
opposing team.
If
you have ever watched curling on television and have wondered ‘why
do they sweep with brooms and yell at each other like that’ or
‘what makes those granite stones curve,’ you will wonder no
more. Men in kilts will
be available during the event to explain the game and to tell you
how and where you can learn to curl.
The
sport of curling started in
Europe
in the late 1400’s. By
the mid-1600’s, the sport had become most popular in
Scotland
, with numerous curling clubs having been formed.
Already, the etiquette and customs which help to define the
sport today were becoming evident in the formal rules of some of
these early clubs, such as “There shall be no wagers, cursing or
swearing, during the time of the game under the penalty of Two
Shillings Scots per oath.” Some
early clubs forbade discussing “politics of church or state”
while curling.
 Scottish
soldiers brought the sport to
North America
at the end of the French and Indian War, as they melted down cannon
balls to make “curling Irons.”
By the mid-1800’s, active clubs existed in
Milwaukee
,
Detroit
and
New York City
.
Curling
came to the Adirondacks and
Saranac
Lake
in 1897.
Saranac
Lake
was initially home to two clubs, the Pontiac Bay Curling Club and
the Pines Curling Club. They
curled on
Lake
Flower
and on Moody Pond. The Saranac Lake Curling Club was the combination
of the two with the building of an internationally recognized, state
of the art “ice
house” in 1931, designed by local architect William Distin.
The Saranac Lake Curling club closed in 1943 as a result of
wartime economic conditions, but the building still stands on the
site of Maddens Transfer and Storage on
River Street
.
In
the early twentieth century, curling spread to The Lake Placid Club,
where the tennis courts were flooded to offer curling as a winter
sport for the guests. The
Lake Placid Club “Sno Birds” curled into the late 1960’s.
Curling
has been a “demonstration” sport in four Winter Olympics,
including the 1932 Lake Placid Olympic Games.
Since curling became a full Olympic winter sport in 1998,
there has been a substantial growth in the popularity of the sport
in the
United States
. Last year, the Lake
Placid Curling Club was recognized as being the fastest growing
curling club in the country. This
year, the Tupper Lake Curling Club was formed, and already boasts a
membership of 64 enthusiastic curlers.
The
Adirondack Arc, which is sponsoring this event, is a
membership-based, not-for-profit organization supporting people with
developmental disabilities and their families.
Through person-centered planning, the agency identifies the
individual interests and goals of the people served and provides a
network of supports to assist them in achieving their goals.
Services provided include residential services, early
intervention and preschool educational services, home-based supports
to individuals and families, case management, referral and advocacy.
The
Adirondack Arc is a chapter of NYSARC, Inc. and The Arc of US, and
provides services in
Franklin
and
Hamilton
Counties
, as well as portions of St. Lawrence and
Essex
Counties
.
The
event’s organizer, the non-profit Adirondack Curling Corporation
was formed last year by a group of local curlers with the goal of
promoting the sport of curling in the
Adirondacks
, and of building a dedicated curling facility in the Tri-Lakes
area.
For
more information about this event or for an electronic copy of this
document, or for appropriate antique photographs contact:
Jim
Edmonds, Event Manager, The
Adirondack
Curling
Corporation
telephone:
518-891-9784
email:
adirondackcurling@adelphia.net
Contact,
for additional information about The Adirondack Arc:
Sadie
Spada, The
Adirondack
Arc
telephone:
518-359-3351 ext 103
email:
sadie@adirondackarc.org
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