The popular Canadian hybrid sport known as “crokicurl” has arrived in Toronto for the first time.
On Friday, The Stackt Market at Bathurst and Front Streets opened its installation of the game, which uses an ice rink and combines aspects of curling and the board game crokinole, as part of its winter activities.
“It’s really fun,” said Callen Davies Devos, 6, who was among the first to participate.
“And, like, it’s outside — and everybody likes to be outside.”
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His father, Philippe Devos, brought him and his friend to play during their day off school.
“They’re loving it,” Devos said. “I mean, the rock’s a bit heavy for them, but they don’t seem to mind me helping. You can see they’re excited. They’re competitive.”
The crokicurl installation is the first in the world to include refrigeration, Stackt spokesperson Eli Klein told Global News. He said the technology allows the rink to open earlier in the season and stay open until March, not a small feat for Toronto’s unpredictable climate.
“We built a custom Zamboni, custom scraper, custom rocks — just because we needed it to be specific to what the Toronto experience would be,” he said.
Crokicurl was invented by Winnipeg’s Public City Architecture in 2017 and quickly spread to other cities such as Saskatoon and Calgary.
“I think that it’s really popular for people all across Canada because it’s new for everybody,” said Liz Wreford, a principal landscape architect at the firm.
“It’s not something that really anybody is an expert at.”
Each session costs $40 for 50 minutes with up to 24 players. Wednesdays are free of charge but still require a reservation. It is closed on Mondays.