A total of 20 women’s teams, including 12 local teams, will be competing in the annual Osoyoos Ladies Bonspiel this coming weekend at the Osoyoos International Curling Club. Members of the public are invited to come down and watch the curling action and attend the Saturday night social. (File photo)
The girls just wanna have fun … and hopefully add some prizes to their trophy case.
For almost as long as the Osoyoos International Curling Club has been in existence, the club has hosted its annual Osoyoos Ladies Bonspiel and the annual event takes place this weekend.
A total of 20 teams, including almost all of the 12 teams that compete in the local Thursday night women’s league at the Osoyoos curling club, will compete starting Friday evening and continuing all weekend.
Finals are scheduled in all draws on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., said Betty Steinbart, who along with Shannon Miller, have organized the ladies bonspiel for the last few years.
“We’re hoping that all 12 local teams are going to sign up and then we have teams coming in from Penticton, Oliver, Princeton and a mixed team from the coast,” said Steinbart.
Being able to claim top spot in the annual bonspiel is a big deal for local teams, said Steinbart.
“It’s always an honour and a thrill to be able to win the bonspiel at your home club,” she said. “Because most of the teams every year are local, there’s a really good chance one of the teams from our ladies league is going to come out on top, but we do have some good teams coming in from out of town and the winning team is going to have to play well all weekend to win.’
An interesting tradition at the Osoyoos club is that female members handle the cooking for the Saturday night dinner during the annual men’s bonspiel in January and the male club members handle the cooking during the ladies bonspiel in February, said Steinbart.
“It’s easy for us because the guys want roast beef and mashed potatoes every year,” she said smiling. “It’s a lot harder for the men because we switch up the menu every year and ask them to make some more difficult meals.”
There is a theme for each ladies bonspiel and this year’s theme centers around pirates, so she expects a lot of the curlers to be wearing eye patches and big, decorative hats, she said.
“A lot of the ladies get into the spirit of the bonspiel and I expect there will be a lot of us dressed up as pirates all weekend,” she said.
Members of the public are invited to head down to watch the curling throughout the weekend and tickets for the Saturday night dinner are available at the club at a cost of $15, she said.
Miller does a lot of work in the weeks before the ladies bonspiel making sure everything is in place to allow the participants to have a good time and she deserves a lot of credit for ensuring the event continues to be successful, said Steinbart.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
