The Castlegar Ladies Curling Club held its annual BarBee Bospiel Mar. 1-3 with the Thompson rink from Creston, B.C. taking top honours in the "A" event.
Twenty-two teams from the region competed over the weekend, with Castlegar rinks making it to the semi-finals in each of four events.
The Hicks rink, twice winners of the Castlegar club championship, made it to the final of the "A" event for the first time. Skip Linda Hicks, from Genelle, said she was very proud of her team and it's great to have 15-year-old Robyn Flynn joining them.
Robyn's mom, Michelle Flynn, is the lead, while Hicks' sister-in-law Margaret Hicks plays third. Hicks curls at least once per week in Castlegar and said it's important to continue attracting young people to the sport.
"It's how we grow," Hicks said. "We get them started and then start to share them with other rinks."
From the meet-and-greet on Friday to the awards presentation on Sunday, great fun was had by all competitors. The theme for the bonspiel was "Cosmic Chaos" and the Robitaille rink from Kamloops took home the award for best costumes.
One of the other highlights was a great banquet prepared by the men's club on Saturday night. Included on the menu was barbecue chicken, angel hair pasta with pesto, shrimp salad and dessert.
The Bedard rink from Christina Lake edged the Nichol rink of Castlegar in the "B" event; the Cownden rink from Nelson took the top spot in the "C" event and "D" event winners were the Plotnikoff rink from Castlegar.
Three other Castlegar teams made the semi-finals; the Nichol, Madelung and McIntosh rinks.
The Castlegar Ladies would like to thank all of the sponsors and contributors for helping make the weekend another great success, with special thanks going out to "the retirees" for looking after the ice.