and Facebook. Gary and a host of others help set up. Kathy
prints out score sheets from online, and a group of club
members paint the scoring circles on the pond ice and keep
score of the event. And while the weather hasn't always
cooperated — the ice never thickened enough a couple
of years — Arlen and his men's club are always ready
to adapt.
"We first held the event for a few years in an alley behind
the firehall in town," said Arlen, "but you had to run a liner
and work pouring 50-degree water – hoping it would freeze.
It was a pain to get done. So six years ago, we moved it to
the pond. The ice can be a little rough, but once you get your
house set in, it works well."
Farm Pond Fun
At the event last winter, no one wore curling shoes, pants
or gloves. Instead, the Johnson County farm pond curlers
dressed in anything from sneakers to boots, with overalls or
blue jeans.
Their attire, of course, didn't affect their play. Some
participants maintained a level of professional form while
others used an anything-goes approach, shoving the rock
down the ice any way they could. For traction, players
planted a foot in front of a wooden 2x4 drilled into the ice.
At the Elk Creek curling event (above), the
participants release the heavy stones in a "by any
means necessary" style.
Morgan Kaster (left) releases a stone during the Elk
Creek curling event in Johnson County.
42 Nebraskaland • December 2022
