Curling clubs across Canada answered the call to Grow the Game during 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games

The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games brought an unprecedented amount of exposure and awareness to curling around the world and clubs across Canada capitalized on that momentum by providing opportunities for new people to try the sport.

As part of Curling Canada’s Grow the Game campaign, curling clubs were encouraged to open their doors and offer strategically-timed initiatives and events to attract and retain new curlers.

Many clubs across the country answered the call by offering Try Curling and Learn to Curl programs, and hosting watch parties for the gold and bronze medal-winning games.

The Port Moody Curling Club in Port Moody, B.C., was one of the clubs who ran several events during and after the Olympics to capitalize on the buzz, including “Olympic Curling Day” on Feb. 21 that just happened to coincide with the men’s gold medal game. The day began with an open house in the morning that brought out more than two dozen people who had never curled before followed by a funspiel for club members and volunteers with 90 people participating in the one-day event.

The club also held three Try Curling sessions (a two-hour introduction to curling) during and after the Olympic games, to great success with 123 people in attendance – the highest number of participants from any of their Try Curling sessions held throughout the year.

“The response to our Try Curling initiative was excellent. Normally at this time of year our season is already finished, the ice is already out at our club. But we knew that there would be some interest around the Olympics and there definitely was,” says Mike Goetz, Club Manager at Port Moody Curling Club.

“Normally we might run four or five Try Curling sessions. This year, we ran nine and we probably doubled our normal attendance for that kind of program.”

As well as doing paid and nonpaid social media ads, the popularity for the Try Curling sessions was boosted by an inter-club promotional campaign and TryCurling.Today website with curling clubs in the Vancouver region.

This is the first time the Port Moody Curling Club, which has more than 580 members, made an intentional plan to capitalize on a late-season event like the Olympics and Goetz is very pleased with the results. He says the sense in their community is a lot of people are interested in curling but don’t know it’s available nearby.

“A big part of it for us is just letting people know, ‘Hey, we’re here, and it’s a great opportunity to come out and see what curling is about.’ We really feel that that was a very successful element of our promotional campaign around the Olympics and the popularity of curling during the Games.”

The club plans to follow up with participants in these sessions when next season’s registration opens and to offer beginner and novice programs, as well as low-commitment offerings such as Saturday Night Socials for curlers who aren’t ready or able to commit to a full season.

Olympic open houses and spring leagues in Edmonton

Capitalizing on Olympic momentum at the end of the season isn’t always easy, but The Crestwood Curling Centre in Edmonton found a way to bridge the gap with an open house and spring fun league.

The club first started running an Olympic Open House in 2014, coinciding with the Sochi Olympics, because waiting until the following fall could mean losing momentum. The event is held on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon toward the end of the Games, free of charge, with volunteer instructors giving participants a ‘crash course’ in throwing a rock.

This past February, the club had the highest number of visitors in the last few Olympic cycles, with more than 100 attendees coming through the facility and getting on the ice.

The club also offered a three-week spring fun league focused on learning the game, not competition or standings.

The Olympics sparked increased interest this year. Between the Olympic Open House and the start of the fun league a week later, the club went from zero registered teams to a sold-out 12.

“While it might not have been Olympic-calibre curling, people who had literally never stepped onto the ice before were making perfect draws to steal the end or double taps to get their single – with everyone on the sheet cheering when great shots were made,” says Kate Goodhelpsen, a curling instructor at The Crestwood Curling Centre.

“The spring fun league really bridges the gap between just trying to throw a rock for the first time to getting people on teams and in leagues at the start of next season and having a blast doing so!”

Learn to Curl and Olympic watch party a hit for Manitoba club

A small but mighty curling club in Manitoba also capitalized on the Olympic buzz and did its part to Grow the Game.

The St. Claude and Haywood Curling Club, located about an hour west of Winnipeg, currently has about 60 registered curlers and operates two nights a week on three sheets of ice.

Amy Currie, a board member with the St. Claude and Haywood Curling Club, says the club is always looking for opportunities to grow and attract new members and knew that timing a Learn to Curl session with the Olympics could be a great opportunity.

“We wanted to take those skills that we were teaching on the ice and show people how far it could take them, to really see curling on a worldwide stage, to really try and encourage that momentum of growing the game,” says Currie.

The Learn to Curl event on Feb. 21 brought in 10 people, ranging from children who had never curled before to existing curlers who wanted to learn more about strategy.

“It was incredible and unexpected to have adults come out and say, ‘I know how to throw a rock but don’t know how to call a game.’ It was not the expected outcome, but so much fun to have those conversations,” says Currie.

The club also held a watch party for the men’s gold medal game that afternoon, with about 30 people in attendance – those who had participated in the Learn to Curl, as well as other community members.

Currie says many of those who just came for the watch party expressed regret they hadn’t signed up for the morning’s instructional session, especially since they had a renewed interest in curling because of the Olympics.

“Hearing that kind of feedback, we immediately were like, ‘OK, we are going to have to run this event every year,’” says Currie.

With the Winter Olympics happening only once every four years, Currie says they can align the Learn to Curl session with other big events, such as their local provincials or the World Curling Championships.

The club will also be offering another Learn to Curl and open house event this fall. They plan to reach out to participants who attended this event, advertise the event, and encourage other local rinks to do the same.

“We were just really grateful that we had attendance from the community, and we hope that we can continue to host events like this and really grow the game in our community and in Manitoba,” says Currie.

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