COUNTDOWN TO THE CURL!
The Vociferous Cruciferous Choir will once again be performing Handel's "Rutabaga Chorus" this year. We are looking for volunteer singers and instrumentalists to join the Choir. If you can carry a tune or a rutabaga, there's a place for you!
Contact Tad Brennan (tad.brennan@cornell.edu)for details.
2011 Roundup
Enjoy the fabulous melody of The Rutabaga Curl by Joe Crookston, as well as the beautious music of The Rutabaga Chorus!!!
The sport of Rutabaga Curling was born on a cold December 1996 Market day, the last market day of the season. The few vendors present (perhaps 25 or so this time of year and point in our history) huddled together for warmth and camraderie waiting for an occasional customer. Talk at some point in the day turned to unusual winter sports. Curling of course came up in conversation. None of us knew the rules; but before we knew it vendors' wares were being "hurled" or "curled" down the market's wooden floor. Potatoes, cinnamon rolls, cabbages, loaves of bread, and even frozen chickens were fair game in this impromptu outburst. There were no particular rules this day; we were going for style, distance, and laughs. But one of the vendors, Steve Sierigk (a middle-aged notecard vendor with a sly smile) and currently the self-proclaimed "Most Esteemed Grand Commissioner of the International Rutabaga Curl", saw potential in the innocent play.
The next market season Commissioner Steve codified rules and designed a court of play using market's wooden floor. In 1997 an early form of our sport was born which allowed contestants to throw most any projectile available at market, although rutabagas were supplied. Commissioner Steve astutely recognized the inequities of this first year of organized sport; to level the playing field the Commissioner declared "any projectile besides a rutabaga illegal". Hence the first official Rutabaga Curl was held in 1998.
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Don't forget to review the good old days! Photos here are courtesy of Jerry Feist.
Click here for 2009
Click here for more 2009
Click here for 2008
A separate Turnip Toss was held for athletes 8 years and younger. Many young people are attracted to our sport but are unable to handle the demands of the heftier Rutabaga. The Turnip Toss offers a smaller more delicate projectile, the throwing distance is significantly shorter than the 79 foot Rutabaga Curling distance; pitching distance is a function of contestants age. | 
This T-Shirt Design will be available the day of the Curl |
A Rutabaga Curl Poem
By Monika Roth
Twas the Last Day of Market and friends gathered round
To celebrate 30 long years in this town
The wind it is wicked and sales are quite slow
and still there are vendors who brave the deep snow
The booths are half empty, the crowd it is thin,
There's a buzz in the air, a contest to win!
Then all of a sudden there rose such a clatter
As round little objects were hurled in a scatter
And vendors competed and customers watched
A little root vegetable that made quite a splotch
Some use them for soups, some use them for stews
but here at the Market, we've found something new
The rutabagas not widely known in this land
Make great hurling objects and that is just grand
The land now lays dormant and farmers can rest
While dreaming of crops they want to grow next
some will grow parsnips and turnips and kale
but some will grow rutabagas just for the hurl!
We hope to see you at this truly historic event!
Any questions please contact Commissioner Peter (see contact page).
We look foward to seeing you at the Curl! |
