As part of its centennial celebrations, the High Park Curling Club is hosting the 2011 Ontario Mixed and Senior Mixed curling finals, a first-ever honour for the facility, a fixture on Indian Road since Dec. 15, 1911.
"We've never hosted anything on a provincial level before," said spokesperson Jennifer Rosiak-Wong.The club applied to the Ontario Curling Association to host the 16 teams from across the province in the John Shea Insurance Mixed and Canada Gold Whiskey Senior Mixed events, April 6 to 10. The five-day mixed tournament will be comprised of a round robin and play-off competition with the event winners continuing on to compete at the national level."It's a little bit of a feather in our cap," said Rosiak-Wong. "It puts us on the map."The club, said Rosiak-Wong, is anticipating curlers from across the Greater Toronto Area to take in the tournament, which has attracted the likes of John Epping (who finished fourth in this year's Ontario men's championship) and Mike Harris (the 1998 men's curling silver medalist from the Nagano Olympics) as well as local residents curious to get a glimpse of the historic facility. It'll be participating in this year's Doors Open Toronto, a city-wide celebration of Toronto's architectural heritage, May 28 and 29, for this very reason: To allow folks a glimpse into one of the oldest curling clubs in Toronto. Over the past century, it has seen remarkable change in its surroundings. Once rural farmland and dirt roads, the area is comprised of high-density residential and commercial development.Designed by architects Gemmell and W.R. Gregg, its structure was modelled after another Toronto club, the Queen City Curling Club. Today, it remains relatively the same as it did when it opened in December of 1911 when it hosted an inaugural ball on the rink floor.Facing east to west, its facade facing the street is red brick and on the west side, there's a two-storey verandah overlooking the lawn tennis courts (formerly lawn bowling greens). "Most people don't have any idea the club is in their neighbourhood," said Rosiak-Wong. "It's T-shaped with a social area on the inside. Over the years, we've expanded. Now we've got grass tennis courts."The club offered plenty of activities from lawn bowling to skating and indoor basketball to billiards and cards. Its first few seasons were quite successful, according to historical records, however, with the onset of the First World War in 1914 followed by mild winters in 1916 and '17 - there was only natural ice back then, the club's membership lagged and had to declare bankruptcy. In 1918, the club re-opened with a new board of directors, charter, no debt and a new name: The High Park Club Limited. It has been financially successful since then. The tennis courts were installed in the early 1980s and their claim to fame is they are the only club-owned grass courts in Ontario. "The High Park Curling Club is like the hidden gem in the city," said Rosiak-Wong. "We welcome everyone to come down and check out the club."Visit www.highparkclub.com for further details.