SPORTS FLASHBACK 1954: Televised curling game highlights St Pierrre community centre opening

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/01/2024 (665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a community known for its hockey prowess, a televised curling game involving the local MLA and the Premier of Manitoba drew the most attention as the Village of St Pierre-Jolys shut down for a day to celebrate the opening of their brand new community centre, which includes an arena, a curling rink and a parish centre auditorium.

Everything, with the exception of a garage or two and the telephone exchange closed down solid at noon Jan. 30, so nobody would have to miss the gala celebration of the completion of this new facility the community worked so hard to build.

Official ceremonies began at 2 p.m. sharp with ribbon cuttings at the parish hall, the skating rink and the curling rink, followed by brief speeches from Manitoba Premier D.L. Campbell, Carillon MLA Edmond Prefontaine, as well as the parish priest, the president of the Manitoba Curling Association and a few other dignitaries.

As Prefontaine promised, the speeches were brief and opening ceremonies were completed long before 3 p.m., when the real fun was scheduled to begin.

The much publicized curling game between the Campbell and the Prefontaine families was certainly the highlight of the afternoon. To the delight of the huge partisan crowd, the Campbell rink, with the premier, his wife, daughter and son-in-law, were no match for the Prefontaine foursome of Edmond, his wife Lucienne and their sons, Gilbert and Rene.

While reporters from the Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg Free Press and the Carillon News snapped an unending number of pictures, huge Kleig lights illuminated the ice surface, as television crews filmed the event to be broadcast over CBC’s television network.

The game, which was originally conceived as a small publicity stunt for the opening of the recreation centre, drew nation-wide attention, which prompted CBC to televise the historic event.

In all, it was estimated 3,000 attended the opening day festivities of the St Pierre Community Centre, and in addition to the capacity crowd at the curling rink, the arena was packed for an afternoon hockey game between St Pierre and St Jean.

Later a huge crowd took in a game between the Manitoba Junior Hockey League champion St Boniface Canadiens and the Catholic Hockey League All-Stars, which included St Pierre’s Gerry Lavergne and Jacques Prefontaine.

At 5 p.m., the banquet hall opened to hungry visitors, who kept coming until 9 p.m., consuming all the food prepared by the St Pierre Ladies Auxiliary under the direction of Mrs Rene Prefontaine.

The ladies’ group had prepared enough turkey for 1,000 plates and before the evening was over it was all gone. All the food had been donated by the ladies of the community and so the $1 per plate they charged was another welcome contribution to the building fund.

And the efforts of everyone involved in the construction of the community centre was borne out by a huge banner across the wall behind the auditorium stage, which (roughly translated from French) exclaimed “By co-operation big things have been accomplished!”

And like the La Broquerie arena which was built by a complete community effort a few years earlier, the St Pierre recreation complex also received the complete support of the community.

Fifteen thousand man-hours of labour were donated. Lavergne’s Electric provided all the materials for wiring at wholesale cost and did all the work free of charge. George Robideau did the same for the heating system and farmers with trucks brought in 1,000 yards of gravel without charging. Carloads of lumber were supplied at cost by the St Pierre lumber yard.

The community spirit of co-operation caught the fancy of a few outside firms as well. Eaton’s supplied the asphalt sheeting for the roof at a 25 per cent discount and Dring’s Laminated Rafter Company created blueprints for the whole structure, free of charge.

Had the community faced the prospect of raising the funds and then hiring a contractor to build the facility, it has been estimated the project would have cost at least $100,000, an amount that would have put the centre way out of reach for a small community like St Pierre.

The floor plan of the St Pierre Community Centre features a 104-foot by 40-foot auditorium, a 104-foot by 30 foot waiting room, a 104-foot by 185-foot skating rink and a 46-foot by 168-foot three sheet curling rink, with a 46-foot by 18-foot viewing area.

With that total community effort St Pierre now has a recreation complex the envy of all neighboring towns.