It’s kind of like the good old days of ‘Barn Raising’, only the opposite.
A couple of weekends ago, with the help of equipment from Russell Redi Mix and one of Dwayne Klimack’s dozers, the boys from the Silverton area made short work of leveling the old curling rink in Silverton.
“We started at around ten and by two thirty we were having pizza and chicken,” Klimack said with a laugh. “We had all of us out there and a lot of community members out there to cheer us on too.”
The two-sheet curling rink in Silverton was originally built in 1949 on a different site.
In 1973, it was moved two hundred yards across the street to sit adjacent to the Silverton Hall.
Work on the hall, Klimack said, has been going on for a while.
“Silverton is undergoing a bit of rejuvenation,” Klimack said. “We’ve got lots of young people from the area who are settling down and choosing to make Silverton home so we have lots of dedicated workers with a real stake in this place.”
So, the demolition and rebuilding of the curling rink is really the second part of Silverton’s ‘facelift’.
The community hall in Silverton has always been well used. There’s the annual Harvest Home supper, the Irish stew supper and Christmas concerts for the kids just to name a few.
“Over the last few years, the group has redone the hardwood floors, the bar, front foyer, the bathrooms, and the front doors. Everything has been painted and the kitchen will be next so we have a very nice space for weddings, socials and small gatherings.”
Located just about 5 miles east of Russell, Klimack says especially with the pared down rules surrounding allowed attendance numbers, the Silverton Hall is starting to become used again. “We’re an extension of Russell and people have started to come out and use our hall, which is wonderful.”
In the last few years, they’ve been fundraising and have reached an impressive $100,000, which is about half of what they’ll need to build a new rink.
“It’s been spearheaded by Herb Lovas, looking to rebuild the rink,” explained Klimack “We weren’t going to go into Russell and ask for donations but word got out about our Buy a Rafter program – where we sold rafters for $1,000 – and we have raised a $85,000 through that, with quite a bit of support coming from people from Russell, many of whom have come out and curled here over the years.”
Which, Klimack said, is very much appreciated.
“Silverton has always been kind of an extension of Russell,” he said. “We have a capacity of 150 people which is a nice crowd at a social and if you only want the hall for social for the night, we charge $150,” Klimack said. “If you need the hall for the whole weekend, it’s two hundred dollars.”
For smaller gatherings like or wedding showers, funeral lunches, the prices are adjusted accordingly, he said.
“We don’t want our prices to be any higher because the idea of having a community hall is because it’s there to be used by the community.”
And now, we’re seeing people starting to use the hall here more than ever for weddings, socials, family gatherings and the like.”
“We have families rent the hall for gatherings and kids birthday parties, that sort of thing for a really small fee.”
As for the rink, they’ll continue to fundraise and will be applying for community grants such as Community Places.
“Community Places has been really good to us in the past so we’re hopeful they’ll come through with that same generosity for us again,” Klimack said.
With the rink now levelled, the group will now be redoing the two-sheet curling rink and the waiting room.
“We’ll be cementing the rink area so in the summer we can continue to use it for socials and gatherings like we have in the past,” Klimack said.
The building itself will be 120 feet long and completely covered in tin.
The group is hoping to begin construction this spring.
“We’re tossing around the idea of an outdoor curling bonspiel for this season and a type of good old fashioned jam pail curling tournament, but we’ll use rocks of course.”
“The rink wasn’t heated so the temperature will be the same,” Klimack said. “We’ll see if that comes to pass or not, but it definitely would be a fun way to head into spring when we’ll start construction.”
For now, the group is ready to go.
“Thanks to Russell Redi Mix and all the help we had from the families from Silverton, we’re done this demolition phase now,” Klimack said. “We have our carpenter, our engineers and our permits all in place so we’re ready to go onto the next step this spring.”
Of course, fundraising is ongoing. Anyone who’d like to help out in any way – or who may be looking to book the Silverton Hall – can give Dwayne Klimack or Herb Lovas a shout.
“Our support from the people of Russell and the entire area has been fantastic,” Klimack said.
“It’s so much appreciated and so nice to see people from around the area beginning to use our facilities over here again.”
By: Terrie Welwood