Minot Curling Club

About Minot Curling Club

Minot Curling Club: More Than a Century on the North Dakota Prairie

Minot Curling Club has been part of life in the Magic City for more than a century and ranks among the oldest curling clubs in North Dakota, where curling is the official state sport. Floods, a fire and shifting ground have forced several moves over the years, and the club now plays in its fourth home, the Commercial I building on the North Dakota State Fairgrounds, with five sheets of ice and a clubhouse. Among its keepsakes are two stones engraved “W.S. Shaw”, belonging to Minot’s 1918 mayor and dating from the era when curlers brought their own rocks.

The season runs from November through March, and the club is run by volunteers who make the ice, maintain the building and teach new members. Over the decades its bonspiels have drawn rinks from Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and elsewhere across the border. The Winterfest Bonspiel, organized with the Sunrise Rotary Club, raises money for local scholarships and youth projects and fielded 18 teams in 2022.

Minot Air Force Base airmen joined the club’s leagues from 2019, and in 2021 a dedicated Minot AFB Curling League was formed, playing on Tuesday nights. Free learn-to-curl events open the sport to newcomers.