Cast iron skillets will be thrown on the ice on Tuesday in a combination of curling, bocce and shuffleboard ice for the Skillet Curling championship held at Ice on the Landing from 5-10 p.m. (one day after the rink closes its season to the public). Come watch and cheer on your favorite team, including such as Skillet Lickers, Natural Born Curlers, Bacon with Brooms, and Slippery When Frozen, just to name a few.
Since Jan. 1, 8-12 teams per week have been playing after hours at the ice rink in preparation for the championship.
Prizes for the champion team will include a trophy from Lodge, a cast iron skillet for each member of the team as well as a pound of bacon from Main Street Meats. Sean Phipps from Nooga.com will serve as MC during the finals, helping keep up with the action on the ice. American Draft will be serving up brews. Proceeds from beer sales will be matched as a donation to Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
Bocce-like rules are used...A jack is placed by sliding the first skillet to establish the point to beat. If Red sets the point, Yellow teammates alternate sliding skillets until they stop one of their skillets closer to the jack. Distance is determined by comparing the closest points of the skillets to the closest point of the jack. At this point turn reverts to the red team to accomplish the same. This alternates until each teammate has slid all four skillets. A total of eight skillets will be scattered.
While brooms are provided for fun, they don't really serve much purpose, making it more like Bavarian curling than Scottish/Olympic curling.
The Tournament Draw
5:15 A- DTR (Kimberly) vs Slippery When Frozen (Alvaro)
5:15 B- Northern Exposure (Brice) vs Bracewell (Matt)
5:45 C- Bacon w/ Brooms (Tim) vs TBA (Alex)
5:45 D- Bangers & Cash (Emma) vs Teen Veteran Pioneers (may have more than 4)
6:15 E- Skillet Lickers (Ken) vs Lehgiit Slippers (Dottie)
6:15 F- Heavy Stones (Mitchell) vs Handup Gloves (Cody)
6:45 G- Iron Maidens (Fran) vs Ham Health (Alaina)
6:45 H- Natural Born Curlers (David) vs Fuzzy Yellow Balls (Scott)
7:15 A vs C winner; B vs D winner
7:45 E vs G winner; F vs H winner
8:30 Semifinal
9:00 Finals
Win and advance. Lose and just hang out, watch, cheer, drink, and laugh. Fun for all!