In the house

Charleswood

Charleswood Curling Club has become the new official home of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame and Museum, which has set up shop in the building’s second floor.

The organization was established in 1987 to “procure, preserve and promote the rich history of curling in Manitoba and to honour the outstanding accomplishments of curlers, builders, curler/builders and teams”. Today it boasts a collection of over 40,000 artifacts — everything from lapel pins to on-ice measuring sticks to club and team jackets — dating all the way back to the 1880s, when curling became an organized sport in Manitoba.

The museum was originally located in the former Hudson’s Bay Company building on Portage Avenue. When the department store closed in 2020, the artifacts there were wrapped up and kept with the entire museum archive inside a storage unit at the Canada Games Sport for Life Centre.

“From a very practical perspective, a museum space is very expensive,” said Resby Coutts, treasurer of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame and Museum’s board of directors. “(But) we always had a dream that we would have a museum space again.”

That dream became a reality in March 2025, when the museum board approached the board at Charleswood with big ideas for what was, at the time, the curling club’s junk room.

“It seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” said Perry Samagalski, club manager, adding that the entire board had thought it was “a great idea.”

“Sometimes opportunity comes at the right time,” he said. “(We’re) looking forward to future growth together.”

Coutts said that the club has been “wonderfully co-operative,” giving the museum the space to host exhibits and even including an advertisement for the non-profit on one of its sheets of ice.

The new location opened to visitors at the beginning of 2026. The first exhibit, which is now on display, pays tribute to the four major players in Manitoba curling, according to Coutts — players, sponsors, volunteers and fans.

It was curated by Heather Helston, who sadly died in January. Helston was a 35-year volunteer with the museum and was directly involved with the planning for and preparation of the new space at Charleswood — a dream of hers since the original was lost, Coutts said.

Items currently on display include donated jackets depicting old sponsors, drawers of pins, photos, trophies, and more.

“This entire cabinet encapsulates (the 80) Canadian and world events held here,” Coutts said. “We wanted to pay tribute to the volunteers who ran all those events.”

Alongside paying tribute, the museum is also fitted with interesting trivia and tidbits, such as the fact the Brier — the annual Canadian curling men’s championship — was originally named after a tobacco brand.

There’s also a secondary exhibit which pays tribute to the history of the Charleswood Curling Club and the volunteer hours that went into building it, Coutts said, with photo proof.

“I think its important for young curlers to know this stuff,” he said, of the museum, adding that some curlers will be more fascinated with it than others, but that’s “just human nature.”

“I have never not curled for 70 years,” the 77-year-old continued. “From the first time I’ve curled … and it does fall to older people to worry about the history, the tradition.

“(There’s) excitement for the project … just the opportunity for folks to visit,” he said. “For some it’ll recreate memories, and that’s important. Memories for past curlers, information and education for future curlers, so they know where the sport came from … I just believe its important — in all aspects of our life — to know where you came from,” he said.

There are many ways to support the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame and Museum, such as volunteering or donating curling-related items that aren’t being used or displayed anymore.

“There are boxes of grandfathers’, grandmothers’ old curling stuff … and we would be quite interested and willing to look at that box of junk and say ‘You know what, if you gave this to me I’d probably throw half away, but the other half, this is some special stuff,’” Coutts said. “I’m convinced there are boxes like that in homes everywhere.”

For more information, reach out to mbcurlmuseum@gmail.com or visit mbcurlmuseum.com