Far left: The D event champions at the Charles J. Futterer Memorial bonspiel were from L-R: Devan Futterer, Logan Futterer, Bruce Futterer, and Katy (Bruce’s daughter) Hill. Above: Runners-up in the B bracket were L-R: Todd Smith, Noah Smith, Andre Smith and Jed Smith. Photos courtesy of Chuck Futterer
The eighth annual Charles J. Futterer Memorial Open Bonspiel was held March 8-10 at the Cook County Curling Club in Grand Marais. Sixteen teams of four curlers each participated.
Curling clubs from Thunder Bay, St. Paul, Cook County, Two Harbors, Kakabecka Falls, Brainerd and Arkansas were present. Games started Friday evening and wrapped up early Sunday afternoon with four championship matches. This bonspiel is gaining a reputation as a fun family event with more and more teams made up of relatives participating each year.
The main event champions, from the Two Harbors Curling Club were Steve Josephson, Rhonda Studier-Sve, Casey Josephson and Andy Buell. For Steve and Rhonda this was a repeat victory as they were also champions last year with two different teammates. They defeated Gordon Williams, Joe Marques, Tony Santo and Ed Koivula from Thunder Bay in the finals.
The Josephson team will have their names etched on the hand-carved championship plaque and like all finals participants earned a cash award.
The Second or B event finals was an all Cook County match with the Mike Christiansen, Rob Hackett, Tyler Legarde and Jamie Spry team beating Andrew Smith, Jed Smith, Todd Smith and Noah Smith. The Smith family squad included three generations of curlers including 11-year-old Noah and Grandpa Todd.
The Third or C event was an all Canadian finals with Doug Chorkawy, Larry Stroud, Kylie Pearson and Patrick Morash from Thunder Bay upending the Kakabecka Falls team of Amanda Donolovitch, Dale Wirta, Mike Harding and Cleo Wolsiffer.
And finally the Fourth or D event had a local flavor with a little southern accent as the team made up of curlers from Minnesota and Curl Arkansas defeated a Cook County squad. The family team named Arkan-Sota, including Devan Futterer, Logan Futterer, Bruce Futterer and Katy Hill slipped by Bob Spry, Bruce Johnson, Sue Caldwell and Vera Schuman.
All Cook County bonspiel are open format which means teams can be made up of men, women, boys and girls of any age. This year we had 10-year-old Noah Mecklin of Two Harbors curling with his sisters and parents and curlers in their late 70s also participating.
The local curling season is wrapping up soon but the Cook County Curling Club is always looking for new or returning curlers for fall 2019. The next local bonspiel is the annual Halloween Open Spiel scheduled for November 1-3, 2019. This is followed by the Two-Person Champagne Spiel January 11-12, 2020 and the ninth annual Charles J. Futterer Memorial Open Bonspiel March 6-8, 2020.
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