KENILWORTH – The Arthur and Area Curling Club will receive an interest-free five-year loan of $200,000 from the Township of Wellington North.
The loan will support replacement of the club’s concrete floor, piping system and boards.
The project will also be funded by a $251,500 provincial grant from the Ministry of Sport’s Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund (CSRIF).
The township loan was approved during a regular meeting of council on July 14, after curling club president Chris Roelofsen presented the request to council.
“On behalf of the Arthur and Area Curling Club I can’t say how overjoyed we were when we got the announcement of the CSRIF funding,” Roelofsen told council.
“This grant allows us to move forward with a project that we’ve talked about for many years.”
The CSRIF grant application was submitted jointly by the curling club and the township, and Roelofsen called that collaboration “vital.”
The curling club board is organizing an “extensive” fundraising plan to cover the loan, Roelofsen said, including a gala in April, bonspiels, a Yuk Yuk’s comedy night and bottle drives.
“We want to create events that bring different people to the club,” he said – “people that maybe aren’t familiar with the Arthur curling club just to kind of promote it as a community gathering event space.”
Funds raised from previous galas have been earmarked for the flooring project, Roelofsen said.
Club members have “also laid the groundwork for private and corporate sponsorship programs,” he added.
Sponsors can contribute between $100 and $10,000, with each sponsorship tier receiving a different level of recognition.
According to a township report about the loan, while the club does have existing reserves set aside, it intends to minimize the use of these funds “by raising the required amount through community fundraising initiatives and private donor programs.
“The requested loan guarantee would serve as a financial backstop to ensure the project can proceed even while fundraising efforts are ongoing.”
Roelofsen said club officials feel raising $200,000 is “definitely an achievable goal with the plans the fundraising committee has already put in place.”
The loan will help ensure CSRIF requirements “are all met and accounted for so that those monies are kind of locked up up-front,” Roelofsen said. “This will guarantee the project will proceed.”
Construction will be completed by H. Bye Construction between April 1 and Sept. 1, 2026, Roelofsen said, with the goal of being ready for the club to host events on the ice surface during the Arthur Fall Fair that September.
“I think it’s great that we’re able to support the curling club with this,” Mayor Andy Lennox said, noting a similar loan for upgrades was granted to the Mount Forest Curling Club.
The loan will commence on July 1, 2026, and if it is not paid by July 1, 2031, interest will be charged based on the Bank of Canada’s prime rate as of July 2, 2031.
