Charlottetown Curling Club volunteers work to keep club open

The Charlottetown Curling Club is open and the volunteer board of directors is working hard to get new people involved in the sport of curling. 

Club president Mitch O'Shea says they are planning to recruit new players to the sport to play it recreationally, not competitively. 

"Part of the challenge is just recruiting people to the sport," he said. "Competitive curling in the province is starting to die off."

O'Shea said they are competing with other sports and other venues that rent out space. 

"Part of our draw is that we have two great rental spaces available but there's a lot of other places in Charlottetown that have great spaces as well." 

O'Shea said while membership is down, it is the norm across the province. But the club is trying some new things to bring players and revenue in for the club.

"We are trying drop-in curling on Friday nights. It's five dollars for non-members." 

The club also offers drink and food specials during the evening drop-in. 

Generate revenue

Two weeks in, O'Shea said it has proven to be popular and growing with some people who have never curled before trying it out or some former curlers coming back for a fun evening. 

O'Shea said the board is looking at other ways to generate revenue and fundraise in order to get ahead financially rather than just scrape by each season. 

A new manager has been hired to help with the operation but O'Shea said everyone else is a volunteer. 

"We need to develop a new model of generating revenue," O'Shea said, "There's a good group of us keeping things going but we could always use more help."  

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