Plans to bring 'crokicurl' to Saskatoon for WinterShines festival in 2018

It's a combination of crokinole and curlingand it's being given thecoveted label of being "so Canadian."

"Crokicurl" combines two of this country's much-loved pastimesand work is underway to bring it to Saskatoon next winter.

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PotashCorp WinterShines festival organizer Shad Ali confirmed on Sunday there were plans to bring the ice game to public spaces in 2018.

The melding of the belovedgame and the treasured sport has generated a lot of excitement since it materialized near a popular Winnipeg shoppingdistrict recently.

Crokicurl super-sizes the original game on ice so it can be playedwith stones instead of discs, demanding a little more physical strength and precision from its players.

Super-sized crokinole on ice

Ali said it was capturing Canadian hearts and sparking a conversation about what it means to be Canadian.

"There is a lot of conversation now about what is really Canadian, what makes us Canadian, what makes us feel Canadian, so I think that certainly is top of mind for people," said Ali.

"And certainly something like this is something that causes a large group of people to kind of get'Wow, this does seem like it represents who we are' and it gets people together and it crosses all kinds of boundaries."

New ice game crokicurl debuts in Winnipeg

8 years ago

Duration 1:47

Crokicurl the new ice game that combines elements of the board game crokinole and curling has made its debut in Winnipeg.

Site yet to be chosen

Ali said WinterShines festival partners had already expressed interest in facilitating public crokicurl.

Although a location hasn't been chosen, Kiwanis Park, Riversdale and park areas in the Broadway Improvement District are among the sites being considered.

Ali said crokicurl is one way the festival is planning to introduce longer-term winter activities that extend beyond the festival program, which lasted eight days in 2017.

Although warm winter temperatures created some problems for the festival organizers this year, and alsodamaged the ice game in Winnipeg, Ali was not concerned about the risk that the life-size board game could melt away.

"It may mean that it's out of circulation for a few days or something like that, and then we come back at it and get it hardened up," he said.

"The last three winters, anyway, we've had issues with the varying temperatures and severity of our winter."

Making more winter fun

He said festival organizers had been looking to other communities for ideas on how to offer public activities that can be enjoyed throughout the winter, such as a simplified version of a curling rink in Jasper.

There is also discussion about ways to incorporate the city's business improvement districts andfacilitatewinter cycling, lighting projects and plans to utilize theMeewasin trail.

City councilorDarrenHill said that Saskatoon could learn from Winnipeg and other cities how to bring additional winter activitiesto the city.

In Winnipeg, Hillliked how artists and architects were engaged to build six new warming shacks along the Red River Mutual Trail for theWarming Huts Art + Architecture Competition.

• New warming huts promise to heat up Red River skating trail

Ali expects crokicurl will be a popular part of the festival plan.

"Something like crokicurl, will certainly be, we know that there's lots of interest, everybody seems to enjoy it, the idea of it anyway, then we want to get it," said Ali.