Sask. business builds backyard curling rink to help ’embrace winter a bit more’

Backyard hockey rinks are a staple of Saskatchewan, but an outdoor curling rink is a much more rare sight.

Malty National Brewing in Regina’s Heritage neighbourhood has laid out a sheet of ice in its backyard specifically for curling.

Co-owner Adam Smith said he hopes it helps people in the Queen City embrace winter and try out the sport in a “very amateur way.”

“We’re a winter city and I really think we all need to embrace winter a bit more,” he told CBC’s Joelle Seal.

“We had the space to do something fun like this so that people can come and try something a little different.”

WATCH | Malty National Brewing brings Saskatchewan’s sport to its backyard: 

Malty National in Regina’s Heritage neighbourhood has made their very own mini curling rink in the brewery’s backyard.

A campfire and some benches surround what he calls an “unofficial length curling sheet,” where the stones are replaced with homemade imitations made with galvanized steel handles sealed by ice into buckets from the brewing process.

“They’re not from that one quarry in Scotland that all other proper rocks are from, but they’re doing OK,” he said, referring to the island of Ailsa Craig off the coast of Scotland where the granite used in Olympic curling rocks is sourced.

When Adam asked his seven-year-old son, Rocco Smith, if they should repeat the rink next year, the boy said yes.

Rocco then described his throwing process.

“You would grab a rock, you would put your foot on this wooden pedal at the back and then you would slide and throw your rock,” he said.

“I never actually gotten it straight, it’s usually right there,” he added, pointing midway down the sheet.

Smith said he and another person who worked on the rink may have been the only people who were happy when the stretch of -40 windchill that swept through the province, but it helped them set in the ice that was struggling to hold during the warm weather that preceded it.

LISTEN | CBC’s Joelle Seal talks to the co-owner of Malty’s National Brewing and his son about the backyard curling rink

The city is currently hosting its second Frost Regina winter festival, but one local brewery is also doing its part to help people get out to enjoy our long winter season. The Morning Edition’s Joelle Seal went out to Malty National in Regina’s Heritage neighborhood to find out more.