Upper Valley Curling Club

About Upper Valley Curling Club

Upper Valley Curling Club: From Woodstock to White River Junction

Upper Valley Curling Club brings curling to the Upper Valley, the stretch of the Connecticut River shared by Vermont and New Hampshire. The club began in January 2008 as the Woodstock Curling Club, started by a group of friends in Woodstock, Vermont, including co-founders Bob and Lisa Holt, with one set of donated stones and two rented sets. Friday-night curling at the Union Arena in Woodstock was the original format. In 2012 the club took its current name to reflect a membership spread across both states and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Today the club curls on shared arena ice at the Wendell A. Barwood Arena in White River Junction, behind Hartford High School and close to the I-89/I-91 interchange, drawing members from as far as Sunapee and Vershire. It lays out four sheets. The membership of more than 50 ranges from early teens to curlers in their late 70s, and stick curling makes the game accessible to players with limited mobility.

The fall and winter season includes leagues, Tuesday Morning Curling, learn-to-curl sessions and travel to bonspiels; Upper Valley hosted Grand National Curling Club bonspiels in 2010 and 2012, and a club team won the Maine-iac bonspiel in Belfast, Maine, in 2017.