Mankato Curling Club Back In the Hack
By John Chindvall, board member, Mankato Curling Club
Mankato Times
MANKATO, MINN. — After several years of ice issues, including having no ice for the past two seasons, the Mankato Curling Club is back with a brand new ice plant and floor. Through the efforts of seemingly endless fundraising, a sizeable donation from a very generous anonymous benefactor, and with the help and cooperation of the City of Mankato, the Club was able to purchase a new, custom-built ice plant for the five-sheet rink, all new pipes and headers, and a new concrete floor. The new floor has already been poured and by Thanksgiving the new chiller and compressor will be installed. The goal is to be making ice by the middle of December with full league play to begin Monday, January 2.
The Mankato Curling Club, originally known as the Caledonian Curling Club, was organized in 1903 and is one of the oldest clubs in the state of Minnesota. In 1965 the Club sold its aging building and the land to the City of Mankato so a new high school (now known as Mankato West) could be built. As part of the deal, the City built a new mixed-use building, which the Club would lease from the City for six months of the year at a very favorable rate. In 1965 the concrete floor was poured with pipes encased in the concrete, an ice plant was installed, and the Club has called that building home ever since. In the nearly 50 years since, the Mankato Curling club has been home to Minnesota state champions, national champions, world medalists, and has hosted national championship events, national challenge rounds, and Olympic team trial challenge rounds, as well as school, corporate, and other group outings. It also is home to one of the larger juniors programs in the country; which has produced several high-level teams and individuals and, more importantly, has exposed many young people to the sport of curling. The 200 plus members of the Mankato Curling Club enjoy five sheets of dedicated curling ice from mid-October to mid-April.
People signed the Curling circle at a recent Brewfest fundraiser.
For over 40 years, the original ice plant and floor were maintained and repaired here and there without major issues. But as the equipment aged, the repairs began to increase in both frequency and cost. The compressor and chiller became unreliable, leaks and blockages in the pipes became more frequent, and finally in 2011 the original ice plant was retired. Replacing it was a lightly used system from a curling club in Colorado that had closed that was procured for next to nothing. However, that system was not installed properly and began to fail almost immediately. The Club invested a lot of money and took on debt to try and repair and salvage the ice plant, but in 2014 ice could no longer be made. And for two years, the Mankato Curling Club was a club without curling.
Fortunately Mankato has several curling clubs within an hour’s drive: the Heather Curling Club in Mapleton, the Owatonna Curling Club in Owatonna, and the new Chaska Curling Center in Chaska. These clubs were very welcoming of the “displaced” Mankato curlers, allowing Mankato Curling Club members to pay discounted or reciprocity dues, have a dedicated Mankato Curling Club league night, and played host to some of the Mankato Curling Club’s usual bonspiels. But the goal was always to bring back curling to Mankato.
During those two ice-less years (2014 – 2016), the Club did a lot of fundraising and the Board of Directors met with the City of Mankato with increased frequency. Finally, an agreement was reached this last summer with the City for building improvements and financial assistance, helped in part to the passage of a local sales tax extension on the November ballot specifically meant to provide public funds for recreational facilities and programs, including the curling club. That set in motion a flurry of activity to raise more funds as well as put together a plan to re-open the Club. An anonymous donor came forward and made a matching pledge of up to $100,000 if another $100,000 could be raised by the end of July. The Club not only reached that goal, but exceeded it with almost $125,000 raised by the deadline and received the full $100,000 matching pledge. The Club’s 501c3 tax-exempt status as a non-profit organization was – and still is – crucial to the fundraising, allowing donations made to the Club to be tax deductible to the donors. The Club also applied for and awarded additional funds in the forms of grants.
The cement is poured and curing – waiting to be painted.
The total cost of the project will come to just over $500,000 when all is said and done, with the City of Mankato covering a sizable portion of that amount in form of the new concrete floor. A low interest loan from the City of Mankato to the Mankato Curling Club will cover the rest of the cost.
Since the end of September, many hours of hard work have been put into preparing for the new floor and ice plant, both by club volunteers and the general contractor’s team. The old compressor, chiller, and headers were removed, walls in the equipment room moved to accommodate the new equipment, new headers and piping installed, over nine miles of new pipe laid and tied down to the rebar, and in mid-October the new concrete floor was poured. Before Thanksgiving the new floor will be painted and the new chiller and compressors will be delivered and installed. Assuming everything goes as expected, the new ice plant will be switched “On” December 10th and ice will start to be made once again in Mankato.
It has been a long and painful journey, but the Mankato Curling Club is on the verge of stepping back into the hack. A large debt of gratitude is owed to the donors, volunteers, and the City of Mankato to get the Club to this point. The Club has been around for 113 years and, though the last two years certainly tested its’ resolve, it will emerge ready to curl for another hundred.
You can learn more about the Mankato Curling Club by visiting their Facebook Page or their Website at mankatocurling.org
The Mankato Culing Club has also set up a GoFundMe page to help fund the project. Visit www.gofundme.com/mankatocurlingclub to make a donation.