Dedicated Ice
The Missoula Curling Club has been bringing people together on the ice for years — through leagues, learn-to-curls, school programs, community events and bonspiels. We've done it on borrowed time and rented sheets, squeezing every hour we can out of a rink that has many other users competing for the same ice. That has served us well. But it has also shown us, season after season, how much more is possible.
Dedicated curling ice changes everything. It means consistent, high-quality playing conditions. It means a home that is ours — available when we need it, maintained the way curling requires, and open to more people in more ways than a shared arena can offer. It means a real base for growing the sport in Montana: more leagues, more youth programming, more events, and a facility that can anchor curling in this community for generations.
That is the future we are working toward, and it is why the club has launched a capital campaign to make dedicated ice a reality.
The Campaign: Everyone on the Ice
The campaign is called Everyone on the Ice — a name that reflects what dedicated ice actually means for our club. It is not just about better conditions for existing members. It is about removing the barriers that keep people from participating: limited ice time, inconvenient hours, packed sheets, and a season that ends when the rink needs the ice back.
With a home of our own, we can open the door wider — to more beginners, more youth programs, more accessible scheduling, and more of the community events that have made curling one of the fastest-growing sports in North America.
Where We Stand
The campaign has broad and growing support from within the club. In our end-of-year matching gift drive, we not only met our $100,000 match — we surpassed it, with 60% of club membership participating. The strength of that response, from early donors and first-time givers alike, reflects what this community already knows: that dedicated ice is not a luxury, it is the next step.
We have also been doing the research. Club members traveled to dedicated curling facilities in Canada to tour facilities firsthand — seeing how purpose-built ice changes the experience of the sport and what it takes to run a sustainable facility. That knowledge is directly informing our planning.
The club is actively moving through the planning and development phase of the campaign. We are not there yet — but we are closer than we have ever been, and the momentum is real.
Why It Matters
Every season we operate on arena ice, we work around constraints that dedicated curling facilities simply do not have. Ice preparation timing affects play. Late-night game slots limit who can participate. Scheduling conflicts with hockey and skating mean our season is shorter and our hours are less predictable than they should be.
Dedicated ice means the club controls its own future. It means a facility built and maintained specifically for curling — with proper pebbling, consistent temperature, and sheets that play the way the sport is meant to be played. Curlers who have experienced dedicated ice firsthand describe it as a different sport entirely.
Stay Connected
Updates on the campaign — milestones, next steps, timelines and ways to get involved — will be shared through club email and on our social media channels, including TikTok and YouTube, where we are documenting the dedicated ice effort as it unfolds.
If you want to support the campaign or learn more, reach out to us at [email protected] or click the Donate button below.