The Crossfield Farmers Market will be hosting its first ever Rutabaga Bowl later this month – an unorthodox game of parking lot bowling featuring a root vegetable rather than a ball as the main prop.
The event will be hosted in conjunction with the market’s second annual February Food Festival, which will be held on Feb. 26 at the Crossfield and District Community Hall.
According to market manager Cheryl Shea, this “coveted, silly, and ridiculously fun community event,” will go down in front of the community hall with social distancing and masking in place to accommodate the crowds.
“Because we’re still under COVID restrictions and a one-third fire code capacity, there could be line-ups,” she said. “This [Rutabaga Bowl] can help kill the time if you’re standing in line waiting to get in [to the market].”
Shea added there will be a makeshift bowling lane set up out front of the community hall, but the game itself will not be played like a traditional game of bowling. Instead, the winner is whoever lands their veggie closest to the pin (or pylon).
“It’s not bowling per sé where you throw it down to try and knock over the pin,” she said.
“We have referees lined up and we have an emcee lined up [to assist].”
As to the inspiration for the event, Shea said she caught on to the idea after seeing on social media that a farmers' market in New York hosted a similar rutabaga curling tournament before Christmas.
“I thought, gosh, that looks like a lot of fun, so not wanting to copy them exactly, but borrowing the idea, it kind of morphed into rutabaga bowling instead,” she said. “So, I presented to the Crossfield Agricultural Society (the market’s sponsoring body), and they jumped right on it and then the community jumped right on it.
“And now, it’s just kind of taken on a very fun spin.”
Since unveiling the idea, the Crossfield Farmers' Market's Facebook page has posted various video clips of people around town attempting their own rutabaga bowls at their businesses.
She added she was looking for an event that could bring some joy to the community during the cold winter months and encourages participants to wear their favourite costumes and bring with them a carved root vegetable.
“February tends to be a quiet month, it tends to be kind of a blue month,” Shea said. “It’s just a perfect time to do the [bowl] and it really works alongside the food market because it’s vegetables being tossed down.
“They're very unpredictable and they take the nastiest of bounces.”
Newly appointed mayor Kim Harris will be completing the inaugural bowl, and Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards will be awarding medallions for first, second, and third place, according to Shea.
She added registration is required on site in order to track your Rutabaga Bowl expertise.
“We’re not taking pre-registrations just in case there’s a 90,000-mile-an-hour blizzard – it may get cancelled in that case,” Shea said. “But we intend to go ahead. We’re Albertans, we’re used to it.”
She added a kid's tournament will be held at approximately 11 a.m. featuring turnips instead of rutabagas as the bowling prop.
“We fully expect everything to go sideways and haywire cause we’re just making it up as we go,” Shea said with a laugh. “It’s a rutabaga for the adults and turnips for the kids – we hope we get a good turnout.
She added new and returning vendors have registered to participate in Crossfield’s second annual February Food Festival, including all things food-related such as craft beer, locally made spirits, baked goods, and more.
“Last year was our first one and it was very popular, so we’re doing it again," Shea said. “It’s a community builder that we hope Crossfield comes to.
“Our specialty markets, we get a large amount of people from the surrounding area, so it’s just a fun way for them to come to [town] and enjoy Crossfield as well.”
She added even if the Rutabaga Bowl is not as successful as she hopes, she plans to continue it in the future.
“It’s been so much fun that you have to start somewhere and grow it,” she said. “We fully anticipate growing it into an event on its own.”
“The business community and Crossfield have been extremely fun to work with [in preparation for it.]”
