INNISFAIL – In front of a packed crowd on Jan. 25 at Bowden’s Paterson Community Centre, the winners from the 77th Innisfail Farmers & Farmerettes Bonspiel were honoured.
But instead of receiving belt buckles there was something new this year for the event which took place from Jan. 20 to 24 at the Innisfail Curling Club.
“We decided to go to curling brooms this year. We had them wrapped and it says Innisfail Farmers Farmerettes Champions, said Brody Nestorvich, a member of the event’s organizing committee, which also included Hanno Buyks, Doug Hunt, Rees Tomas, Reed Sparks, Hailey Corsiatto, Andrew Bennett, Todd Marshall, Gary Wagers, Ashley Willert, Garilynn Morris, and Kevin Bennett.
The A event winner this year for the tourney’s Open side was the Innisfail Golf Club team of Doug Schaefer, Marshall Wood, Greg Hoar and Nathan Saar.
The B event winner was Heartland Insurance with Travis Phillips, Kevin Vennard, Don Brian, and Terri Smyth-Hunt.
The team of Olds Golf Club, which included John Buyks, Ken Munro, Rod Bradshaw and Mathew MacDonald, claimed the C event title.
And Greg Fowler, Wilson Lougheed, Lane Purdie and Brenda Beagle took home the D event for Heartland Funeral Services.
On the Ladies side of the bonspiel, the A event winner was Co-operators - McGillivray Insurance & Financial Services with Kim Lewis, Jana Dimopoulos, Jessica Jorgensen and Chris Donner.
The Ladies B event title went to Antler Hill Veterinary Services with Shelly Bradshaw, Dawn Howe, Kari Beaudoin and Pam Veldman.
Nestorvich, 25, is a third generation farmer who runs a lamb feedlot operation east of Innisfail, and a production system specialist for John Deere Canada.
He has also been a curler for almost 17 years, and like so many others at the storied tournament that has been held annually since the late 1940s, it is a chance for him and scores of other area farmers to stay connected.
“There's never a slow time in farming. People are calving right now,” he said. “During the day people go home between games or between segments people have got to go home and feed cows, or check cows if they're calving.
“It's a good time to see neighbours, people you haven't seen for a while,” he said. “I'm here twice a week curling, so I see a good chunk of these people every week already, but there's some that don't curl regularly, so it's a good chance to connect with them, and also just to be able to connect with some of the business people in town because some of them you maybe see once a year.
“Some of them you might talk to every day depends on the business, like whether it's your equipment dealer or your agronomist, or your insurance people, or whatever it might be, like your banker.”
For this year’s 77th annual event there were a total of 152 curlers for 28 teams on the open side, and eight teams for the ladies.
“We had the same number of teams on both sides last year as well,” said Nestorvich, adding this year’s entry fees of $60 per player and $180 per team was also the same in 2024.
“For the businesses it's great advertising,” said Nestorvich. “It's also great public relations, and it does help a lot of businesses to either get business or continue to strengthen their business with their customers who are here curling.”
For the five-day tournament there are 10 businesses that were diamond sponsors that contributed at least $1,500 for the event.
There were also 18 platinum sponsors that contributed between $1,000 and $1,499, and 40 gold sponsors that chipped in between $500 to $999.
And finally there were another 40 silver sponsors that contributed between $100 to $499.
“We did really well this year,” said Nestorvich.
Next year’s 78th annual Farmers Bonspiel & Farmerettes Bonspiel is scheduled for Jan. 19 to 24.
