This year’s Osoyoos Mixed Midsummer Bonspiel will take place from Aug. 17-21 at the Osoyoos International Curling Club. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Curlers from across British Columbia and Alberta will once again gather in Osoyoos for what has become a late summer tradition with the annual Osoyoos Mixed Midsummer Bonspiel only days away.
This year’s bonspiel will take place Aug. 17-21 at the Osoyoos International Curling Club, said event organizer Pat Wycherley.
A total of 36 teams have already registered and there is room for another four teams if they sign up soon, she said.
“We would like to see 40 teams, so we’re hoping we can get another four signed up as quickly as possible,” she said.
One of the teams already signed up will be skipped by Jim Cotter, who recently skipped the team that captured the provincial men’s championship and competed at The Canadian Brier last year.
“Jim will be curling on a team with his daughter,” said Wycherley. “Jim is still competing on the World Curling Tour and is obviously a great curler and having him compete in our tournament with his daughter is sure to attract a lot of attention.”
Registration for the event will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 17 and will feature a wine tasting event at the club, she said.
“The curling action begins Thursday morning and continues Friday and Saturday, with the finals set for Sunday afternoon,” she said.
All of the teams must have at least one man or one woman, she said.
When the midsummer mixed bonspiel first started back in the late 1970s, there were up to 70 teams and the bonspiel took place over a full week of competition, said Wycherley.
Unfortunately, interest in the bonspiel dwindled for about five years within the last decade because of this time commitment and almost folded around 2012, she said.
Organizers made a renewed commitment to promoting the event in 2013 and attracted a total of 39 teams and that event was a huge success and has continued to attract this number of teams ever since, she said.
“Having people have to take a full week of holidays was getting really tough,” she said. “With a four-day bonspiel, a lot of them only have to take a couple of days off of work and that has worked out much better.”
Instead of offering prizes to the winning team – as had become tradition for decades – tournament organizers started offering cash prizes last year and that was very well received and will continue this year, said Wycherley.
“Most curlers really don’t need to win another toaster,” she said smiling. “We decided to offer cash prizes from the registration fee last year and everyone seemed happier with that.”
There will be over $4,600 in cash prizes offered, with the winning team sharing $600, the winners of the B draw sharing $500, winners of the C draw sharing $400 and winners of the D draw sharing $300.
Members of the public are invited to show up to watch the curling action all weekend, she said.
The Osoyoos Mixed Summer Bonspiel is going to be around for many years to come, she said.
“People want to come here because of the great weather and because this bonspiel is truly a lot of fun,” she said. “We’ve had the same nine teams coming from North Vancouver almost since our inception in 1979 and they keep coming back because they have so much fun.”
The Osoyoos Mixed Summer Bonspiel started in 1979, four years after the new curling club was built in 1975.
Many of the competitors take some time during their visit to Osoyoos to play some golf, tour local wineries, visit the beach and enjoy a family vacation in between games, said Wycherley.
“It has sort of become a late summer tradition for curlers … who turn it into a family vacation,” she said.
Last year’s overall champion was local as Lucky Buholzer skipped the winning team, which included his wife and kids.
They won’t be back to defend their title as one of Buholzer’s daughters is getting married the week of the bonspiel, said Wycherley.
If anyone still wants to enter a team or get more information, they can contact Pat Wycherley at 250-495-3587 or email her at [email protected].
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
