Vegreville’s Curling Sweetheart Returns Home

Vegreville’s Curling Sweetheart Returns Home

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

Curling sensation Val Sweeting made a brief stopover in Vegreville Feb. 28 where she met up with some of her supporters to have a photo taken with them at the events sign along Highway 16A.

Sweeting, who won the Scotties Tournament of Hearts as a member of Manitoba’s team Einarson on Feb. 23, said that even though she no longer lives in the community, she still feels like she’s representing the town when she’s out on the ice.

Val Sweeting and her son Jaxen posed for photos with some of her supporters at the Town of Vegreville events sign on Feb. 28.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

While Sweeting spent her formative years living on a farm near Maryfield, Saskatchewan; she lived in Vegreville the longest. Sweeting was 13-years-old when she and her family moved to Vegreville. “I still consider it home. If it wasn’t for the Immigration Centre closing I’d probably still be there. I definitely miss the small town and everybody there.”

She said her original sponsors are from Vegreville. “I remember Tammy Halina, Tim MacPhee, and Joe Bilyk. We were at the Bull Pen and they rounded up our original sponsorship so that’s kind of where all that started. And then we won our first provincial championship that year, and it’s kind of grown from there. They’ve helped us find other businesses and I’ve never forgotten that. I definitely wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for them.”

Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee is one of her biggest fans. He, along with his family are good friends of Val and her family, and have supported her both on and off the ice for many years. He fondly remembers travelling to different places throughout Alberta to watch Sweeting play.

“I think I was the very first sponsor Val ever had as a professional curler.” In Sweeting’s first Scotties MacPhee’s company Vegreville Glass, along with Hair Fantasies were her major sponsors. MacPhee also spent eight years lining up bigger sponsors for Sweeting. In fact, three years ago when Sweeting lost her major sponsor, MacPhee was able to round up 20 members of the Vegreville and District Chamber of Commerce to pitch in $500 each to keep her team in the championship.

Sweeting said it was nice to see her parents Marcia and Ross, her partner Matt and her son Jaxen, some of her cousins and uncles from Saskatchewan as well as as some of her Alberta friends at this year’s Scotties. While she knew some folks from Vegreville would be making the trip down to Moose Jaw, she didn’t know a couple from the Ranfurly area would be there until they yelled her name from the stands. “It was nice to see familiar faces in that moment and it brought me comfort to have them there.”

As far as bringing the trophy back to Vegreville, Sweeting said that’s something she would like to do, but doesn’t know if that will be allowed. But rest assured, there will be some sort of celebration this spring or summer when the tour is over, promised Sweeting.

For the time being, she and her teammates will be focusing on and training for the upcoming World Championships that will be held in Prince George, BC from March 14-22. The team has already qualified for the Olympic trials in Saskatoon in Dec. 2021. The winner of the trials will represent Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.