Long before they ever had a building or ice to curl on, several men gathered to establish a curling club in Grand Rapids. The 8 to 10 charter members included the likes of Wally Froemming, Gordy Brumwell, and Tony Caucci. (Ironically, Brumwell was transferred out of the area and he never got to curl in Itasca Curling Club.)

Itasca Curling Club was finally incorporated in 1968. The organization still did not have a club building, but they did have a place to curl—outside under the grandstands at the fairgrounds. This “rustic” setting didn’t even have bathrooms—just the outdoors and lots of yellow snow. There were only 6 chairs for spectators. Since curling was new to everyone, it was informal and often curling protocol wasn’t followed—curlers just didn’t know the rules of courtesy. Often someone would step into the house and ask the skip, “Why did you do that?”

Disaster struck when the bleachers burned down and the curlers no longer had a place to curl. There was a year or more of no curling for the Itasca Curling Club while they searched for a new home. They looked at vacated iron ore mining buildings and even a huge barn offered by a local farmer. After lots of fundraising, members built a club in its present location in 1973.

In January of 1997, disaster struck once again. During a men’s bonspiel, the curlers had just left the ice and were in the clubrooms when the roof caved in from an overload of heavy snow. There was no curling the rest of the year.

The club rebuilt in 1998, making the clubrooms larger and installing regulation ice sheets. Leagues curled again in 1999 and are still going strong today! The club retains about 125 members and has four sheets of ice. We’re located at 902 Hale Lake Pointe in Grand Rapids. We continue to make improvements to the club and continue to grow our membership.

Come join us! Good curling!