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After moving to Edmonton in 1997, Lance Anderson Croft felt inspired to create a curling league for queer people in the city. Other Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary had established queer curling leagues, and Edmonton would be next on the list of cities with one. As far as queer sports leagues go, Edmonton only had volleyball and badminton before Lance founded Curling with Pride (CWP).
Lance had been playing in a queer volleyball league in Brazil before arriving in Edmonton. “I enjoyed just having the sportsmanship of queer people around and being able to relax in that environment. So, I wanted the same thing [in Edmonton] but in a sport that I enjoyed as well; there was a volleyball league that I was part of. But, curling was something I had always done and I didn’t want to give it up.” Hailing from Success, Saskatchewan, Lance recalls that he has been curling since he was five years old. “We didn’t have a school gym in Success. Once the ice was in [at the curling rink], that was our phys ed class every day. It was either curling or the outdoor skating rink. So that’s what you did all winter, was either freeze your ass off outside, or you’re in [the curling rink].”
The nature of curling is team based and Lance could not start the league on his own. To gauge and attract public interest, he created and put up flyers at the Roost (one of the gay bars at the time), the Gay and Lesbian Community Centre of Edmonton (GLCCE), and also had Kristy Harcourt mention it on her CKUA radio show for a couple of weeks. A Sunday night in November was when they held their first meeting, with six members present; Lance Anderson Croft, Jennifer Wheaton, Gregory Beau, Jason, Albert Blanchette, and Dean Carlson. While the former five have since moved on from CWP, Dean has maintained a steady loyalty and thorough involvement with the organization. Currently serving as the organization’s vice president, he has previously served every position on the board at some point throughout its years. “I enjoy doing it,” he says, “it’s something I’ve been passionate about since we started.”
Ahead of this first meeting, Lance had to first secure a meeting place for the organization. Some of the curling clubs included the Shamrock and the now closed Avonair, whose capacities unfortunately could not accommodate new leagues at the time. The Ottewell curling club had been an immediate “no” due to the nature of CWP; Lance had explicitly stated that the league was queer at its core during his search for a meeting place in order to avoid any future problems that might arise upon the league’s arrival at a curling club. The Granite curling club was the decision that he arrived at due to its central location, as well as the fact that its manager at the time, Dixie Blackmore, was a lesbian and thus the environment would welcome them.
For the first two years, the league operated on a drop-in system where people who came to curl would chip in $10 each. Meetings primarily took place on Sundays, maybe missing one or two a month because of other leagues’ bonspiels that would take place on them. With the rapid growth of members, CWP became more organized and began operating on a more committed registration system for members. Despite this growth in two years, it would not be for another two years that the organization would formally adopt the name “Curling with Pride;” up until then, they casually referred to themselves simply as “gay curling.” In the year 2001, they marched for the first time in Edmonton’s Pride Parade. Before they would walk in 2002’s Pride Parade, they formalized their organization with a proper name and a logo. CWP hosted a logo design competition, and the winning design created by Vancouver artist has been the organization’s logo ever since.
Courtesy City of Edmonton Archives/Times.10 collection
To commemorate the organization’s name and logo, their participation in the Pride Parade had to celebrate in an unforgettable fashion. Members of CWP at the time helped to build a large-scale curling float that was constructed out of two kiddie swimming pools, stove pipe, and finished off with papier-mâché in Lance’s driveway. After a successful loop in the parade, the float would return to Lance’s home to spend the night. However, the float did not survive the rainy weather that night and dissolved into a crumbled mess in the morning.
Lance and Dean liken the cleanup of the float’s remains to shovelling compost, one of the many ways they did fundraising for the organization. Though it was good for generating funds for CWP, the organization also fundraised through coupon booklets, chocolate, and holiday wreaths. These methods were also successful in giving them exposure and strengthening their relationships with other LGBTQ+ organizations, such as the ISCWR, in the city. Albert Blanchette, one of the original six founding members, was also a part of the Leather community. Albert would include his friend Gary in CWP’s activities and fundraisers, such as silent auctions, exemplifying how CWP’s members overlapped into other queer communities. Over the years, CWP’s dedicated membership reflected the organization’s inclusivity for transgender and racialized peoples in Edmonton who were in search of a sense of queer community.
While curling was the basis for supporting queer community, attendees could also participate in post-game activities with one another off the ice. These activities included games such as trivia, darts, or bingo. Though the Granite had been CWP’s most loyal location, changes in management had led them to hosting at different clubs throughout the years. They hosted at the Saville Centre for their 2013/2014 season but did not settle there. While the Saville did not have a problem with the queer element of CWP, they did not accommodate for CWP’s extra community activities due to lack of space and just how much traffic the Centre got with other leagues.
CWP was also growing. From the original six members that only allowed them to play 3on3 games, they exponentially grew to their peak with a staggering 26 teams in their 2018/2019 season. Throughout those years of rapid growth and strong community support, CWP helped other Canadian cities, such as Saskatoon, develop queer curling leagues. During the 2005/2006 year, Lance and Dean had a major hand in founding the Canadian Pride Curling Association (CPCA), hosting national bonspiels annually. Toronto contributed with draw times, and CWP decided to go forward with establishing the CPCA with help from Apollo Curling (Calgary’s queer curling league) and Vancouver’s queer leagues.
National games would be broadcasted live to YouTube so that teams’ local gay bars could play them on TV screens and allow audiences to watch it. One year, the CPCA decided to have a fun sponsorship program where people watching the livestream could buy drinks for the teams that they were cheering for. Its popularity was unforeseen, and soon the Association was overwhelmed by the comical amounts of drinks that were being purchased for teams, to the point where it was out of control.
After about 10 years of nationals, Lance had decided to step back from CWP and move out to Gibbons with his partner. Though no longer a part of CWP, he remains friends with many of the people whom he met during his time with the league. In the years since, Dean has remained a stable fixture with CWP. When CWP hosted Nationals in Edmonton at their most faithful curling club, the Granite, they were warmly surprised with hog lines under the ice done in Pride tape; a loyal gesture done by the Granite’s board for CWP as a symbol of their longstanding partnership and history.
Drag Performers Vanity Fair (L) and Godiva (R) curling at the Granite Curling Club
Additional Resources:
Curling With Pride
Website – https://www.curlingwithpride.ca/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/curlingpride
Instagram: https://instagram.com/curlingpride
19 Years of Canadian Pride Curling
The Curling News
Curling with Pride Edmonton is more than just a league. It’s home
The Grand Slam Of Curling
Funding for this story made possible by the Edmonton Heritage Council and the City of Edmonton
Rhys Primus
Rhys Primus is a writer and musician from the Alberta prairies. After moving to Edmonton to attend MacEwan University for journalism, he immersed himself in the city’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community and began pursuing his passion for writing. Dancing at Evo and attending drag shows allowed him to network and exercise the skills he learnt in university, filming and creating content for local performers.
While completing his internship as a reporter for the St. Albert Gazette, he worked on a 65th anniversary archival project. The archival project inspired him to help the YEG Queer History Project to preserve Edmonton’s queer history.
Ruth DyckFehderau
Cherese Reemaul