And the good times did roll! Nearly 100 Chamber members and friends turned out last Thursday evening to celebrate the best of our best at the Kent County Chamber of Commerce 2012 Excellence in Business Awards. The theme for the evening was Mardi Gras complete with beads, feathered and sequined masks, Cajun fare and music by Mike Buccino & Phillip Dutton and company. It was a grand evening!

After a State of the Chamber report, the Chamber recognized the 2012-2013 Kent County Public School Teacher of the Year, Ida Nabb. Congratulations Ida!

The Chamber also recognized Doug Camp for his Distinguished Presidential Service to the Chamber in 2011 and 2012.

And the winners of the 2012 Excellence in Business Awards are:

Environmental Awareness Award
Harborview Farms with Herman & Christy Hill accepting the award

Community Service Award
Dick Goodall

Best New Business of the Year
Uncle Charlie’s Bistro with Chuck Ministero accepting the award

Outstanding Business of the Year
Flow Salonspa Jaye Alexis Owings accepting the award

Business Leader of the Year
John Carroll, Jr.

If you’ve ever been curious about how the sport of curling is played, then here’s your chance to learn more. The Chesapeake Curling Club, founded in 1979, consists of anywhere between 55 and 60 current members and meets several times a week at the Talbot County Community Center Ice Skating Rink in Easton.

Club president Dick Bemis recently competed in curling events in New York and Massachusetts earlier this month. He and three other Chesapeake Curling Club members competed in the Grand National Curling Club (GNCC) Senior Men’s Bonspiel at the Ardsley Curling Club in Irving, New York. The team of four won the second of three events that day.

Additionally, Bemis and his wife competed in the GNCC Senior Mixed with one other couple from the Chesapeake Club at the Cape Cod Curling Club located in Falmouth, MA. The competition was held the weekend after the Senior Men’s Bonspiel, and Bemis’ team finished as the runner-up in the second event.

Played in the Olympic Winter Games, curling is a hard sport for many spectators to decode. The term Bonspiel, originating from the Scottish Gaelic language, translates to simply “curling tournament,” which were traditionally played outdoors in Scotland but have since been adapted as indoor tournaments here in the United States and Canada.

Made up of teams of four–either all men, all women or a mix of two men and two women–curling is played on a sheet of ice (140 feet long) using granite stones and curling brooms. The goal of the sport is to slide, or throw, each granite stone from one end of the ice to the other. At each end of the ice there are 12-foot rings in which the teams aim for, as the closest stone to the center of the ring gets the point.

The two teams alternate in “throwing” its rocks, with each team member rotating through as either a thrower, or a “sweeper.” Sweeping is a key component in the sport as well, allowing the players to prevent the rock from curving and to allow the rock to travel further by minimizing friction.

At the completion of each “end”–a term used to describe the idea of each team throwing between 8-10 rocks before switching ends of the ice–the score is added up. Only one team can score points at the end of each end, and in order to score they must have a stone inside the largest ring (referred to as ‘the house’) and closest to the center of the three rings.

If, by chance, the scoring team has the second-closest stone as well, then they receive two points. The same thing applies if they have the three-closest stones (awarded three points rather than the typical one) and so on. It’s a complexly scored game for the casual spectator, but the game can be compared to shuffleboard, which may be the closest version to the sport of curling.

Julie Tsamoutales, the current Secretary of the Chesapeake club that just so happens to be the southern-most curling club in the U.S., has spoken highly of both the club and the president:

“Dick is the glue that helps hold our club together,” she said via email. “He has been president and treasurer for several years, and is responsible for keeping the club moving forward.

“I live in Upper Marlboro and choose to curl in Easton because of Dick, his wife Sandy and the other wonderful folks that make up the club,” she continued. “I could curl in Laurel (25 miles closer to home), but find the Easton club is a very friendly, warm atmosphere. One big, happy family for sure.”

Events that the club host at the Community Center include the Funspiel (January), and more recently The Miller, which was held on Saturday February 18. The GNCC Senior Mixed Bonspiel was held on their home ice in February of 2011, as well.

The club is always open to new members, which currently range from 20 years old to senior-age curlers. The weekly meets at the curling rink include Men’s League on Wednesdays, Women’s League on Thursdays and a Mixed League on both Tuesdays and Fridays.

For additional information on the club itself, or if you have any questions about the club, you can either visit chesapeakecurling.org or email the club Board of Directors at [email protected].