About Us
The Belfast Curling Club is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization committed to promoting and teaching the sport and spirit of curling. Founded in 1959, we are the only ice facility in Maine solely dedicated to curling, and our 200+ members come from seven of the state’s counties. Our three sheets of ice and “warm room” (gathering and viewing area) bring together people from all walks of life. Through leagues, bonspiels (tournaments), and on-ice learning experiences, we provide our community and curling visitors from afar a welcoming and inclusive gathering place to share a winter activity, learn from each other, form friendships, and have fun.
Our season runs from mid-October through March. We offer a variety of leagues, mostly on weekday afternoons and evenings; host 5-7 bonspiels each season that bring curlers from across the United States and Canadian Maritimes to Belfast to play in multi-day competitions; offer numerous on-ice learning experiences to non-members; and provide friendly competitions and open ice time for members to hone their skills.
While most play for fun, there is opportunity for growth and mastery, whether playing recreationally or in pursuit of competitive goals. Belfast curlers regularly travel to regional competitions, and have played in national and world championships. Belfast fielded the first wheelchair team to represent the US at a World competition.
Curling challenges the mind and body and offers a lifetime of joy and reward. Come join us!
Club History
The Belfast Curling Club opened officially in February 1959 as a two-sheet ice shed on the site which had previously been flooded for outdoor curling by a group of enthusiasts. Inspired by founder and first president, Dr. Norman Cobb, and friends from the St. Stephen, New Brunswick Curling Club, volunteer masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and laborers built the club on donated land—even making their own 5,000 cinderblocks!
Before this, the original handful of "roaring game" fans traveled frequently to St. Stephen to curl, and later carted an assortment of stones to a nearby college hockey rink for early morning ice time.
By December 1962, BCC expanded its ice shed to 3 sheets and also added the upstairs warm room. The addition of a banquet hall came in 1977.
In 2016, the original 1950s ammonia-charged refrigeration system finally called it quits, and BCC undertook the major capital improvement of replacing it with a modern glycol-carrying chiller along with installing distribution mats embedded in cement as a base on which to build ice, versus the prior sand base with exposed pvc piping. It was a much-needed leap into the present for our ice making!
Our most recent facility upgrade—a complete renovation of the lower level—occurred due to flood damage from a burst pipe while we were closed in the first year of the pandemic. Six inches of water collected in our lower level before the burst pipe was discovered, damaging walls, ceilings and floors, which necessitated a full “gut” of much of that level. The scope of the renovation also required major additional work to meet current building code standards in order to re-open. Thanks to tremendous financial support from our community, our membership, and friends from other curling clubs, the renovations were completed in April of 2022.