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Despite opposition, Orangeville Pondspiel gets grant money

June 8, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

All but one town councillor wanted to give the Orangeville Curling Club a grant toward next year’s Great Canadian Pondspiel.

For the first time in its history, the club applied for a community grant of $4,500 to help offset some of the costs for the next pondspiel on Island Lake in January.

Grant Peters, the club’s president, said it’s one of the only outdoor curling bonspiels in the area. The club drew about 100 participants in 24 teams at last year’s Great Canadian Pondspiel.

“It’s a fantastic event,” he said. “There’s a couple meals, there’s prizes, you play indoors, you play outdoors.”

You don’t have to worry if you’re not a very skilled curler, either, because the ice surface makes play unpredictable, Peters said.

Councillor Debbie Sherwood inquired about an entry fee for teams to throw rocks on Island Lake.

“There are fees for entry,” Peters said. “We try to keep them quite modest so that as many participants as possible can partake in the event.

“What we have noticed recently is we have a lot of rising costs. Insurance costs have gone up. Transportation fees because we go back and forth between the club and the ice surface on Island Lake.

There’s also the meals, prizes, and various swag like T-shirts the club pays for, he said. And those costs are on the rise as well.

“We do recover quite a bit from the fees,” he said. “But, as a club, the curling clubs of Ontario and Canada are still trying to get a lot of people back from COVID.”

Peters said a little bit of help to offer a community event gives the club a boost.

“So, just for clarification, this isn’t a fundraiser,” Sherwood said. “The money you’re asking for is just to help with the costs to run … but it’s not a fundraiser, correct?”

Peters said money earned above the costs to run the pondspiel would go to the club in past years.

“In the event where ticket sales exceeded the grant amount, then that money would come to the club for improvements to its programs,” Peters said.

Coun. Rick Stevens said he was concerned that, if the town gives a grant to the curling club, other local sports clubs will come with hat in hand looking for help.

“Running the event is always tenuous, let’s say, at the club,” Peters said. “The membership fees cover the operations barely and sometimes not.

“So having this community event be able to run on its own in a self-sufficient way through a partnership is really what we’re trying to do.”

Peters said the club considers the annual pondspiel to be a community event rather than a fundraiser to benefit club members.

“It’s more about trying to get people out there and try to support itself,” he said. “If they turn into curlers, that’s good news for the club. But if they have a good time, then that’s good news for everybody.”

Stevens said entrants pay an entry fee to participate.

“I’m not understanding what you need $4,500 for,” he said.

If the grant amount had to change at the council’s discretion, then “certainly that’s up for debate,” Peters said.

The grant would assure the club that the pondspiel will be able to be offered in January, even if the club’s finances are in rough shape for the coming season.

Later in the meeting, during the council vote, Stevens went against the curling club’s grant application.

“I just won’t be able to support this one,” he said. “I feel it’s a sport event [and] I think people should pay for their own sporting events.

“If we start opening the door for that, we’re going to have a lot of organizations coming to the door.”

Council also approved a community grant for $1,600 to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 233, and another for $2,000 to the Orangeville and District Horticultural Society.

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