The grannies are back with their brooms and ready to rock on the pebbled ice.
Airdrie's annual Granny Spiel curling bonspiel is returning to the local curling club this Saturday.
The yearly bonspiel will feature 16 rinks comprised of women over the age of 50.
Local curler Lise Vanderstoel is one of the organizers of the annual Granny Spiel, and said this year will finally see the popular event return to pre-pandemic normalcy, for the first time since the 2019 event.
"We’ve had it six years, so this is our seventh," she noted. "It’s our seventh annual, and it’s basically for grannies – you know, over-50, as most grannies are over 50. It’s just a fun thing.”
Vanderstoel said members of the public are encouraged to come check out the curling this Saturday. While the bonspiel is fully registered, she noted there's always next year and the future.
"Our curling club is pretty active now, since it’s back to [the conditions] before COVID," she said. "We had a few tough years where we couldn’t curl. It started back up slowly – we had to mask up and keep our distance and all that, but right now…it’s a lot more relaxed.”
According to Vanderstoel, some teams get into the spirit of the bonspiel's name by donning old-lady wigs. And it's not just the curlers themselves who get into the the theme, but also some of the venue staff.
“Our bartender, he always dresses up as a granny so that’s always fun,” she said.
Off the ice, she added the bonspiel will include door prizes and a raffle draw.
"There are some really nice prizes," she said. "Our local businesses are very supportive and generous. We like to keep it local with support from the community.”
The bonspiel gets underway at 10 a.m.
