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VIDEO: Will Cowichan continue to rock?

Open House offers Lakers the chance to share their ideas about future of curling rink
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What to do with the curling rink? Cowichan Lake folks were eager to talk at the open house. (Lexi Bainas/Gazette)

Will Cowichan Lake rock in future?

Residents, many of them with connections to curling either past or present, gathered on Nov. 14 at the Lake Cowichan curling rink to share their feelings about the future of the Cowichan Rocks curling facility.

Stephen Slawuta, a consultant hired to assess the feelings of the community, said at the open house on Nov. 14 that “the intent here is to gather feedback from residents on the future of curling here in the area.

“We just want to provide an opportunity for people to provide comment in a casual format, so they can provide their independent perspective. We decided not to go with the discussion format, just because in that format some people are a bit louder, more boisterous than some others. Our idea was to ensure people had a comfortable, kind of casual opportunity to provide feedback.

“With that being said, we do have a residents’ survey that we do have available for people to fill out, now or online in the future. We’re also gathering some feedback through Placespeak.

“We’ll compile the information into some different themes, get what’s provided on Placespeak and report on that as well. Then all that information will be compiled into a report and shared back with the community.”

Cowichan Lake folks can expect that report within the next month, he said.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, curlers got to express their happiness with the facility by posting notes on a message board, with comments like “great cameraderie” and “I get to curl two nights a week with my friends”.

Asked how to increase interest in curling, someone posted, “Two on two is the next pickleball”, “need more youth curling”, “need to advertise events more”, and a call for drop-in curling that said: “Friday night the curling club used to be THE place to be.”

Elsewhere there were question boards about possible change.

Some of the answers there included “need more activities for kids/teens”, “rock climbing wall”, “second floor gym space” while others said, “lots of empty spaces, we need a curling rink”.