Naming the West : Stories

Red Deer Lake - Community - Student Story 1:
The Curling Rink

The curling rink was originally built on the land across from 53rd Street, just west of the old RDL School and south of Highway 22X. It was built to have a place for all the families to use. It was a place that the community members would meet, curl, skate, and socialize with other people in the area and surrounding communities. Sometimes they would use it as a theatre for dances and other events.

The rink had two sheets of ice on it. Most members of families curled, some from the age of 6 years old. It became so popular that some of the adults had to go to practice curling in the middle of the night just to get some ice time.

The rink was not as good as the ones in the city. The problem with the rink became evident as the condition of the ice was not great. It was hard to maintain proper temperatures and good ice surfaces for the demand. City dwellers came out to RDL community to live in acreages so grew the demand. As the sport of curling gained popularity people soon traveled into Calgary to curl in other arenas such as the Big 4 Building. As the use declined and most competitive curlers moved their sport to other places, the curling arena was bulldozed. Some Red Deer Lake community members were confused as to why it was torn down as there was not one built in its place. The old curling link was a big part of what made Red Deer Lake community so special.