

In the state of Michigan, only one other curling center has five sheets of ice. We have a community-led, nonprofit board of directors. We see the TCCC as a community asset and not a private club. How is this facility different than other curling facilities? The refrigeration equipment required to make an ice rink is also costly. The insulation provides tight control of the ice temperature, the ambient temperature, and humidity of the "ice shed" regardless of the temperature outdoors. The ideal environment for curling requires an extremely well insulated building shell which is quite expensive. The roughly $7M project includes $3.9M (roughly 28,000 sq ft) for the construction and ice renovations, $2.85M M for land and building acquisition, and $250K for campaign-related and program expenses. Tell me more about what goes into the cost of the TCCC building? The Club’s goal is to buy out the Friends in ten years and own the building outright. The TCCC will have two owners, the Traverse City Curling Club and the Friends of the Traverse City Curling Center (LLC). The TCCC will be managed by the Traverse City Curling Club, a 501 c3 nonprofit organization. The stopping, starting and “picking” of the skating sports continuously builds high and low spots on the ice and the repeated used of the Zamboni continues to add to the unevenness of the ice over the course of the season.

However, from that point on, a Zamboni is used repeatedly while the ice is being used for skating. The initial flooding of the ice surface is similar to dedicated curling ice. Multi-Use Arena Ice serves a multitude of user groups including hockey, figure skating, speed skating and curling. This entire process is repeated daily throughout the playing season to maintain ideal curling conditions.Ī Zamboni is never used on dedicated ice. The pebble/ scrape process is repeated several times across the entire surface of the ice until no ice remains untouched. The ice is scraped with a very precise level blade that is used to remove any inconsistency in the ice created by the pebbling. The ice is “pebbled” (using a showerhead device) with deionized water creating droplets of frozen water on the surface that make it more efficient to move along the ice.


It takes hours and expertise to build to excellent conditions.Ĭurling ice is flooded and frozen several times to build up a perfectly level foundation.ĭistilled water is used to remove any impurities. The ice is prepared and groomed to very specific conditions that are ideal for the game of curling. Dedicated Curling ice is used with the single purpose of curling.
