Bemidji Curling Club
| Location | 1230 23rd Street NW Bemidji, Minnesota 56619-0101 |
|---|---|
| Established | 1935 |
| Club type | Dedicated Ice |
| USCA region | Minnesota |
| Sheets of ice | Six |
| Website | http://www.bemidjicurling.org/ |
The Bemidji Curling Club is a curling club located in the city of Bemidji, Minnesota. It is notable for its long line of champions in many different competitions, including men's and women's rinks which represented the United States in the 2005 World Curling Championship and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Pete Fenson skipped the men's rink, which won the Olympic bronze medal, the first-ever medal in curling for the U.S. Cassandra Johnson skipped the women's rink, which lost to Sweden in the final match of the 2005 World Women's Curling Championship.
One of the club's members, Scott Baird, played as an alternate on the Olympic men's rink. At age 54 years, 280 days of age, Baird is the oldest competitor in Winter Olympics history, and the oldest to win an Olympic medal.
The club has hosted many state and national championship tournaments. Most recently, it hosted the 2010 United States Junior Curling Championships. It will host the 2015 Minnesota Junior State Playdowns from January 1–4. The club has weekly leagues Monday through Thursday that run from November to March. There are also bonspiels and tournaments on some weekends. The schedule for these can be found on the Bemidji Curling Club website.
The club features a general viewing area on the first floor and another viewing area upstairs with a bar. There is also a kitchen area that is used for when bonspiels and tournaments provide food for the participants. Locker rooms are also provided for men and women. The lockers can be rented by member of the club. There is a little store within the club that sells curling equipment. There are six sheets, but often when national championships are being hosted one of the end sheets is used as a viewing area with bleachers. The building also holds a skating rink on the opposite side, separate from the curling club.
Near the end of the Great Depression and in the midst of the economic recovery of the New Deal, the Bemidji Curling Club was organized. During the Winter Carnival of 1932, the Hibbing Curling Club put on a demonstration of the sport which not officially organized in Bemidji until a Sunday afternoon meeting at the Tourist Information Building on January 13, 1935.
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