Shortening days at the dawn of the winter and the dropping of temperature marks the beginning of curling season for countless Canadians, and fans from across Schlegel Villages had the opportunity to celebrate their love of the sport at the 2025 Grand Slam of Curling Masters bonspiel in Guelph in mid-January.
Kathy Zador was among them. She began curling at a young age in Goderich, Ontario, and competed all through high school before joining a teacher’s league in her adult years. She was among the crew that travelled from The Village of Winston Park in Kitchener to watch some of the world’s most proficient curlers compete at Guelph’s Sleeman Centre on Schlegel Villages’ Day.
She says part of her love of playing the sport was found in the social aspect of the game, which was found in both the competition and the gathering of teams afterwards. As Kathy watches the rocks glide over the sheet of ice and listens to the calls of the athletes, she says “it’s quite special,” to be part of the event with some of her friends from the Village and the team members that came to support them.
Like Kathy, Janice McEwan from The Village of Humber Heights has been a curling fan as long as she can remember. It was something she shared with her parents and she has fond memories of sitting together with them to watch matches over the years.
For the event in Guelph, Janice was eager to watch the feature match-up for the midday draw, pitting Ontario’s Rachel Homan against Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson.
“This is a fabulous opportunity,” Janice says. “I was quite excited about coming here today.” She says she’s thankful that despite her mobility challenges, the Village team was able to help make the day happen and the Sleeman Centre made it easy to enjoy her time there.
“It’s nice to have a reason to get out,” she says, and her fellow Humber Heights resident, Paul Tatton agrees.
Paul says he’s a curling fan “sometimes”, but he really just enjoys all winter sports, especially figure skating. He competed as a figure skater at a national level in Canada, winning a bronze medal in the 1954 Canadian National Championships, and he was a coach for more than 70 years. He says skating was his life and he never had much time for curling, but his father was an exceptional curler and Paul was always a fan.
Like Janice and Kathy, he was simply happy to come and be part of the event, and he proudly had his Schlegel Villages toque on, representing his community he’s happy to be part of.
