How Bemidji became the 'Curling Capital of the USA'

BEMIDJI — Curling seems pretty simple from the outside; all you have to do is try to slide a rock across a sheet of ice closest to the circle with two people sweeping in front of it.

Now, how hard can that be?

“Are you capable of standing on ice and yelling at inanimate objects? Congratulations, you too can be a curler,” Chris Chase wrote for USA Today in 2014, as he ranked curling the easiest Olympic sport.

However, as many who have tried the sport have learned, curling isn’t as easy as it appears. Sure, it isn’t as physically exerting as skiing or speed skating, but only a few possess the precision, accuracy and chess-like strategy that Olympic curlers need to be competitive.

Just ask anyone from Bemidji.

Since the sport was introduced to the town in 1932, curling has become its uno