Skeena Horseshoe Club

In the early 80’s I played softball along with many others in Terrace. I also enjoyed throwing horseshoes so a few of us decided to start a club. Eventually we participated in horseshoe tournaments throughout the province. A horseshoe meeting was held in Vancouver and I was able to attend this meeting with the interest in having a club begin in Terrace. At this meeting they nominated me as Rep for the northwest.

I came back to Terrace and found that others too had great interest in this sport. A club was soon started and in a short time we had 35 paid members. Soon became members of the BC Horseshoe Association. Even though we had all this interest in the sport we played on a few pegged sandboxes.

The first thing we had to have before we could make a proper court was property. At the time I was working at Skeenaview, which is now called Terraceview. This was a nine-acre government property that the municipality had taken over and on it was an ideal sport for a horseshoe court. Our club had a meeting and decided to write council for permission to build a 12-court horseshoe pitch on the corner of Halliwell and Sparks. We attended the next council meeting where we presented our proposal and they granted us permission to go ahead and build the pitch with their specification and the area we asked for was being designated as a park. A blueprint was drawn up and the council agreed to it. We now had our property.

This project would be costly but with enthusiastic new members it was achievable. Many deals were given to us and with all the voluntary labour the project was a success. The Pacific Northern Gas provided all the steel pipes to put up the frame. We had to get them from the airport and cut them with torches, but they were free for the taking.

The senior organization for the BC Government called “New Horizon” was approached for a grant. A representative was in Terrace and she arranged for the grant to be passed. We received $10,000 for the project.

The lumber was purchased from REPAP, which was very economical, as a wrong order had been filled for Japan. This was to our advantage. We received three lifts at $35.00 each. The metal for the roof of the both the KinHut and the Horseshoe Pitch only cost us $500 because we bought a load of random lengths and brought them up from Armstrong ourselves from John Wideman was in this business. I was the organizer of this project and had help from Lloyd Ross, a retired carpenter, Joe Schulmeister, a competent welder, Fred Berghauser, Don Sharp, Fred Annett and many others who volunteered their services.

The project was completed in the summer of 1984. We had the official opening ceremony with Bob Halsar, who was the City of Terrace administrator at the time. He gave a few words of admiration and a “penny” he gave to me as the whole project cost $10,000.01. The ribbon was cut and coffee and doughnuts were served. That afternoon there was an opportunity for anyone to try his or her had at a “ringer” on the new regulation size horseshoe pitch.

A provincial tournament was held in 1985 with approximately 400 people in attendance.

Submitted by Joe Wideman.

Joe Wideman and Fred Annett