The curling club opened wide its doors to welcome scores of rugrats last Saturday.
The Optimus Kids Curling Camp was the first of its kind to happen in Quesnel, inviting nine to 12 year-olds out on the ice to get a taste of curling, some for the first time in their lives.
A total of 32 children attended the event, which was the second best turnout for the provincially-wide held camp.
“You always want better numbers, but when he told me we were the second highest camp I was pretty happy,” Dave Plant, manager of the curling rink, said.
Plant said around 70 per cent of the children who came out had never been on a curling sheet before, with the other 30 per cent having been around curling, but not regularly.
Action started on the sheets at 10 a.m. and went through to 3 p.m. with a stop for a spaghetti lunch around noon. The lunch and snacks were provided courtesy of Cariboo Pulp and Paper.
The introduction to curling added to the number of young curlers in the city, with some of the attendees showing interest in participating in youth curling activities.
It was the first such camp for the region, but with the positive feedback Plant received, he hopes to hold one next year as well, though holding it earlier in the season so new curlers can enjoy a whole curling season if they want to enjoy, instead of the half they can take part in this year.
Because of how late the camp was, new curlers from this year’s camp will join come the new year.
The Youth Curling Jam Can, ages 7 to eleven, and the Junior Curlers, ages twelve and up, are midway through their 13 week season, which will break for Christmas, allowing new curlers to join for the six weeks left after Christmas.
The young curlers play Wed. 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. for the young ones and Sat. 3:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. for the junior players.
Anyone interested in taking part can call the curling rink at 250-992-5813.
