Fern Doucet (left) and Donald Dumont of Girouxville were two of 64 players to participate in the McLennan Curling Club’s April 11 to 13 cash bonspiel fundraiser at H.W. Fish Arena.

An exceptional response to the McLennan Curling Club’s cash bonspiel fundraiser April 11 to 13 proved to be the true measuring stick of the community’s commitment towards a new curling complex. “The focus from our perspective as a club wasn’t as much about the amount of money we raised as it was about seeing if the town was behind us,” says curling club president Rita L’Heureux. And that answer became crystal clear throughout the course of the weekend event, which will go down in the history books as a sweeping success. “The curling club is to be commended on a job well done and helping to raise awareness for this very worthwhile community recreation initiative,” says McLennan Mayor Don Regier in reference to plans to construct a new $3 million dollar curling rink. “I heard nothing but positive comments and feedback all weekend, which is a true credit to the hard work and commitment demonstrated by the curling club.” His comments were echoed by Coun. Dwayne Stout, who gave the cash bonspiel a firm thumbs up. “This was an impressive, first-class event from start to finish. People are still talking about it in the community,” he said at last week’s town council meeting. Equally impressive among the field of 64 participating curlers was the virtually perfect ice conditions, which also drew rave reviews. “The ice was absolutely fantastic,” says L’Heureux, tipping her hat to club vice-president Barry Whelen and his crew of volunteers for preparing the three-sheet ice surface and maintaining it to virtually professional standards. “Curlers were blown away by how keen (fast) it was.” Contributing to the success of the cash bonspiel was the estimated 60 volunteers from within the community that rolled up their sleeves and pitched by offering their assistance in various capacities. That included everything from bartending at the Cabbage Patch lounge, to setup and cleanup of the Elks Hall, 50-50 and the “Between a Rock & a New Place” draw for some great grand prizes. “We just can’t say enough about the positive support we received from the town, volunteers, curlers and the business sector. It was incredible to see,” says a grateful L’Heureux. The cash bonspiel kicked off on the evening of April 11 and continued right on through the weekend with the 16 participating curling teams taking a brief pitstop on Saturday evening for a banquet supper and dance at the Elks Hall. “The supper and dance went really well with upwards of 80 people in attendance,” adds L’Heureux. Action continued on Sunday leading up to the finals that afternoon, which featured the top six teams squaring off against each other. Earning bragging rights in the ‘A’ Event was the Kelsey Dussault rink (consisting of third Donovan Dumont, second Alain Blanchette and lead Chris Bedard) with a tight 5-3 win over the Donald Dumont rink. In the ‘B’ Event it was the Rita L’Heureux rink (with third Jocelyne McArthur, second Sue Delaurier and lead Diane Deslauriers) squeaking out a 4-3 win over the Ben Fournier rink. The ‘C’ event, meanwhile, saw the Linda L’Abbe rink (which included third Roger L’Abbe, second Gilbert Girard and lead Shannon Girard) knocking off the Kevin Laliberte rink by a score of 7-4. L’Heureux says the overall fundraising total is still not official, adding that “early indications are that we did quite well.” The curling club intends to host the event once again next year around the same time. Proceeds from the event are earmarked for the construction of the new curling rink complex, which will be located next to H.W. Fish Arena. The project is expected to be carried out in several phases with the first phase consisting of general landscaping and construction of the curling complex shell. “We’d like to see the building shell up within a year,” says L’Heureux.