Presidents Annual Report
2008
The 2008 Copper Country Curling Club season saw a rebound in membership after the drop we experienced in 2007. We had an excellent turnout at our January Open House, and great press coverage from the event, both in print and over the airwaves. This, I feel, confirms the importance of successful early season outreach efforts to the growth of the club. Including substitute members and a split membership, we had 37 people officially enrolled in Calumet. Membership in Ontonagon fell, and officially 4 people were members there, which approximated the number of attendees at the conclusion of the 2007 season. We received membership fees for 22 students from the MTU Curling Club, for a grand total of 63 participants. Thanks to the weather the season started on time, saw only one interruption (due to a blizzard rather than warm conditions), and went until the end of March. By our usual expectations, a full and complete season.
Drill House Improvements:
The first major change this year in the Drill House was the movement of the crane from the
middle of the ice sheets to the ‘home end’ of the sheets. The allowed for much better lighting for
the entire length of the sheets, and with some clean up over the upcoming summer, will provide
an elevated viewing area in the future.
The second major change was the construction of a new warming room near the entry way into
the curling section of the building. Thanks and acknowledgment must go out to Steve
Woodworth and Gerry Lamppa for their efforts to build this throughout the cold months of
January and February, to have it ready in time for the bonspiel.
Regularly Scheduled Events:
Ontonagon moved its activities to Wednesday evening, on the basis of information that it would
avoid a potential conflict with other community activities. This change seemed to have no effect.
Future efforts at that site are in the planning stage. There is a commitment from the active
member in Ontonagon to carry on the effort there, and to obtain funds to purchase the old stones
that had been in use in Calumet up to February of this year. The Calumet Branch of the club is
raising the funds needed to purchase one of the two sets of stones from the WCF loaner program
for Ontonagon, the second set of stones will be returned to the USCA.
The Calumet Tuesday League was full this year with 8 teams active. Congratulations go out to
the Fraser Strome team for finishing the season with the best record, and to the Steve Woodworth
team for winning the first post season tournament that we have held in 10 years.
The Thursday Pick-Up Curling was lightly attended again. Wednesday and Friday Calumet
activities by the MTU Curling Club are detailed elsewhere.
Special Events:
Outside use of the Drill House dropped a little bit again this year from 2007, mostly due to one
weather related cancellation. The CCCC hosted about 700 visitor hours of special events in 2008,
compared to 750 hours in 2007 and over 970 hours in 2006. The largest user was Blue Key
(Winter Carnival) and Somero Enterprises (corporate parties). This figure does not include our
bonspiel weekend.
2nd Annual Copperspiel:
The highlight of the 2008 season was the CCCC hosting our second annual 'Copperspiel'
bonspiel. Participation was down slightly from 2007, with nine teams playing. A new feature this
year was the piping of the teams onto the ice for their first game and for the 3 event finals. Many
thanks to first year CCCC members Barry Tippet and Sergei Casper, and to Dr. Doug McKenzie
all of the Superior Pipes and Drums for their wonderful piping. Another highlight occurred at the
Saturday evening dinner, the presentation of a curling stone believed to be from the historic
Calumet Curling Club of the early 1900's, by Bud Berry of the St Paul Curling Club and Fritz
Ahola of Dollar Bay. The stone was donated with the stipulation that it be given some special use
with an acknowledgment to Mr Ahola. The stone will be placed in a display case and used as an
annual award to the club regular season and tournament champions.
Gordon Maclean
President
| Top of Page | Back to Minutes Page | Home |
|---|