Aberdeen Curling Club

About Aberdeen Curling Club

Aberdeen Curling Club – Broom Snapper Bonspiels on the Dakota Prairie

Aberdeen Curling Club brings the roaring game to Aberdeen, the Brown County seat in northeastern South Dakota. Founded in 2014, the club curls on four sheets of arena ice laid in the Holum Expo Building at the Brown County Fairgrounds, and it belongs to the Dakota Territory regional association of USA Curling.

The club’s calling card is the Broom Snapper Bonspiel. The 2026 edition, held January 2–4, drew 20 teams to the Holum Expo Building and was won by Saddle Creek Port Authority, a rink from Omaha, Nebraska. Earlier editions brought curlers from Yankton and Cedar Rapids, and the weekend has included a community exhibition game in which firefighters and paramedics edged local law enforcement 3–2.

Aberdeen’s curlers also have a soft spot for the sport’s outdoor roots. In January 2021 the club planned a bonspiel on the ice of Richmond Lake, but warm weather left the lake unsafe and the event moved indoors to the expo building. Then-president Mark Tolvstad described the aim as getting people who had only watched curling to come out and try it, while head ice maker Steve Gascoigne pointed out that outdoor play is the traditional way the game was born in Scotland.