The new president of the Huntsville Curling Club, Ted Bionda, says he is excited about the future of curling in Huntsville. He is especially looking forward to a new facility for the club which would be part of a multisport complex.
He is well aware of the challenges ahead but that hasn’t scared him in the past. In fact Bionda, now 70 years old, has quite an extensive background of doing what it takes to be successful, since he attended Huntsville High school many years ago.
He came out of school and worked for Hern Hardware for 17 years. Since then he has been an entrepreneur as well as expanding other horizons.
Bionda left the Hardware store to open Bionda Sports & Hobby which became Town Centre Sports. He later developed his own fishing tackle and live bait business which was known as Ted’s Sports & Bait. He also got into the business of skate sharpening, all in the old Campbell’s Drug Store building which he eventually purchased.
Following retirement from the sports and bait business, Bionda also worked at Sport Excellence and later was an inventory control person at Tebby Heating, and car salesperson at Westend Motors.
Bionda eventually moved his skate sharpening business to the Canada Summit Centre which he ran up to 2014.
That’s all to say that Ted Bionda comes to the challenge of President of the Huntsville Curling Club with a pretty impressive diversified background and has always welcomed new challenges.
During Bionda’s time working as a maintenance person at Town Hall and managing his repair business, he was also a volunteer firefighter for 14 years. It was here that he took up the sport of curling fifteen years ago and fell in love with the game. He joined the board five years ago and now has replaced outgoing president John Furner at the head of the table.
“I am excited about this and looking forward to a busy and productive year,” said Bionda. “Curling is in an upward growth with the development of our youth and junior curling programs. We are also running family days, where a family can drop in and get some instructions and try their hand at curling. A very new league that is showing good growth is the mixed doubles and this would be a great addition to our program.”
“I feel our new facility is important for us to host more Ontario Curling Association events,” he added, like the Tankard (Ontario Men’s Curling Championships) coming up January 30 to February 4 next year scheduled for the Canada Summit Centre. “The Tankard is most important for fundraising and great for the Town of Huntsville economically, as it is being held in down time.”
The new six million dollar Recreation Centre is slated to include six sheets of ice for curling and a lounge designed to accommodate 200 people. It would also have a gymnasium and fitness room.
Mark Inglis of York Urbanist, facilitator of the project, said in April they were two-thirds of the way through the process of planning the new facility and seeing it come to fruition.
Partners in the project include Huntsville High School, Muskoka Hornets Baseball Association, Huntsville Soccer Club, Huntsville Hurricanes Basketball Association and the Town of Huntsville.
Inglis says it’s important that there be a 10-year business plan that includes marketing, partnerships and goal setting.
Inglis and his advisory team will be meeting with Huntsville Town Council in October to determine the exact location at McCulley Robertson Recreation Park, and work out road and service plans. “That will determine our next steps,” said Bionda, “and the timing for us moving forward.
“My priority will be to make sure the club will be able to support this new facility. Yes I am quite happy with the planning we have seen thus far, but we have a lot of major decisions ahead. So far the other user groups have not committed to any financial support but they will be tenants. In order to qualify for grants this facility must be a multi-use project.
“I personally will work hard to come up with a five to 10-year plan for the club with our Board of Directors. Also it would be great if I could announce the building while I am president.”
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congrats Ted