Pride on the pebble: Keystone Rainbow Curling League celebrates 20 years

Curling associations across the country are struggling to retain members — and then there’s the Keystone Rainbow Curling League.

Manitoba’s 2SLGBTQ+ curling league officially celebrated its 20th anniversary on Sunday inside its home at the Granite Curling Club.

They started two decades ago with 18 teams, and today that number has exploded to a record-high 45.

“If we were at 47 teams, we would be at capacity for our league at the curling club,” said Brett Nickol, Keystone Rainbow Curling’s director of communications.

“We would have to reconfigure our draw times, which would be a good issue to have.”

Everett Hopfner moved to Winnipeg from Brandon in 2023 and joined the league that winter. He grew up playing the sport in The Wheat City, and always found it to be friendly and inviting, so he viewed it as a natural fit for the queer community and its allies.

“I take a lot of pride in our league and our club where people can come in as they are and just participate in the joy of curling without necessarily having to meet a certain description or check any boxes,” said Hopfner, now one of the league’s board members.

“There’s something really special about being a group of people. We’ve got all kinds of identities that appear, whether it’s people from different ethnic backgrounds who are trying the sport for the first time, and we’ve got people with all different types of gender expression and identity, and there’s safety in numbers.”

“I take a lot of pride in our league and our club where people can come in as they are and just participate in the joy of curling without necessarily having to meet a certain description or check any boxes.”

With five divisions, there’s a sheet of ice that works for all skill levels. To help and encourage newcomers, Hopfner leads free learn-to-curl events on behalf of the league at the beginning of the season, and again at the end to drum up interest for the following year.

“Last week, I was teaching a learn-to-curl session and to my great delight, one of the participants came right after their drag show and was still dressed in their full drag and came right onto the ice,” said Hopfner.

“That was pretty awesome.”

The Granite has welcomed Keystone Rainbow Curling with open arms. The rings on sheet No. 4 are rainbow coloured, two Progressive Pride flags always hang in the rink, and a Pride decal is displayed on the front door.

“That’s really important for us because it creates the atmosphere of being able to not just come authentically as yourself for our Sunday league, but also to come at any point in time at the Granite and feel accepted,” said Nickol, who first became a league member in 2014.

“I feel like that’s the most important moment with our league is just being able to grow this partnership with the Granite, and really creating a safe environment for our returning curlers and new curlers.”

Sunday featured guests such as Wolseley MLA Lisa Naylor, Granite president John Read, and league founder Trevor Harris. The big party is in February, though, when they host their annual Bison Cup weekend bonspiel.

“We get teams dressing up in all kinds of costumes just for the fun of it,” said Hopfner.

“What’s really special about it is there’s kind of a network of LGBT bonspiels that are spread out around North American and we’ll get teams to come specifically to Winnipeg for that weekend to participate in the Bison Cup. And then there’s all kinds of other events that happen, whether it’s drag shows, or dances, and there’s a prize for the Ice Queen which goes to a person who best embodies the spirit of the Ice Queen. It’s just a really good time.”

“We want to basically be like what you’d think as like a queer nightclub where it’s open during the day as a safe space for queer youth to be themselves.”

Nickol hopes people don’t wait until February to come down and visit. Even with all the success, Keystone Rainbow Curling is determined to keep growing.

“I would go as far as calling upon community members that are not a part of the league, who are maybe friends adjacent to those that are in the league, to come on down and have a Sunday beverage and cheer teams or their friends on,” said Nickol.

“We want to basically be like what you’d think as like a queer nightclub where it’s open during the day as a safe space for queer youth to be themselves. They don’t have to play, but they can still be in an environment that is safe and can watch and maybe get interested in the sport.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca