The 39th annual Olds Farmers and 36th annual Olds Farmerettes bonspiels are now underway at the Olds Curling Rink.
Thirty-four men's rinks and 16 ladies' rinks are scheduled to compete. They'll be at it all week. The first draws occur tonight at 5:30 p.m. Each day after that, the first draw is at 10 a.m. with draws every two and a half hours after that. The finals take place this Saturday, Feb. 16.
This year there are two fewer men's rinks than last year's edition. The ladies' entries have the same number of teams competing as last year.
Gary Richards, one of the many organizers, has a couple of theories as to why the men's numbers are down a wee bit.
"Like everything else, we are seeing a decline in numbers, period," he says. "More people going to Phoenix for the winter, I think," he adds jokingly.
Richards expects some pretty competitive curling. He says several rinks that won in past years are entered again this year.
"There's always some favourites. But anybody just needs to put together five or six good games and can win it," he says.
The spiel winds up with a banquet Feb. 16 at the Olds Legion.
Richards says as always, the Olds business community has come through as strong supporters of the tournaments.
"Again this year we've had good participation from the businesses in Olds," he says. "They're one reason why it goes over so well."
Competitors are coming from pretty far afield.
Richards says curlers are coming from as far east as the Rumsey area (about 32 kilometres northeast of Trochu), as far west as Caroline, as far south as the Carstairs area and as far north as Red Deer and Innisfail.
