Yarmouth curling season finally underway

Equipment failures resulted in nearly three-month delay

The Yarmouth Curling Club is back in business after a lengthy delay to the start of the 2017-18 season. This image is from Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 31.

Nearly a full month into the new year, curling was finally happening at the Yarmouth Curling Club.

After equipment issues caused an extended delay to the start of the Yarmouth club’s 2017-18 season, the club’s curlers are back on their own ice.

“It’s exciting to be back in our club, curling, and have everything up and running,” said club spokman Rick Allwright.

The club’s first day for league play was Monday, Jan. 29.

“Our regular evening leagues run from Monday to Thursday,” said Allwright, past president of the Yarmouth Curling Association. “(Friday is) either a fun night or other various events that we’ll do.”

The Yarmouth curling season ordinarily would have started about three months ago, but issues with major pieces of equipment put things on hold. First the club’s compressor needed to be replaced, then the chiller.

To help make up for the time it lost last fall and early this winter, the club is looking to extend its curling season deeper into the spring.

“The plan is to go to the end of April, that’s what we’re shooting for,” Allwright said. “Basically, then we’re only losing about a monthand-a-half of curling.”

The club is fundraising to help cover the cost of getting the new equipment installed.

“Fundraising is going very well,” Allwright said. “Basically, our biggest push right now is our vacation lottery, so that ends March 2.”

The lottery’s grand prize $3,000 vacation voucher.

The Yarmouth club also has received support from the three local municipal units and the province. is a