M’Chigeeng looking for ringers
By Maurice Switzer
M’CHIGEENG FN – They come from as far as Kalamazoo to throw horseshoes at the Rainbow Ringers pits – and this August they’ll be throwing them at the first-ever All-Ontario Native Horseshoe Championships.
“There’s lots of camaraderie and good friendship in this game,” says Ken Migwans, owner of the tidy little patch of ground just south of M’Chigeeng First Nation alongside Highway 551 that serves as home base for the Rainbow Ringers Horseshoe Club.”Nobody ever leaves here with bad feelings.”
“It’s also very affordable,” adds cousin Cheyenne Migwans, one of the club members enthusiastically making plans to welcome First Nations “shooters” from all over the province August 16-18. Entry fees are a mere $20 for players in four singles divisions – including “legends” for men and women 55 and over — and $40 per two-person team in men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles.
“There’s free rough camping right here on the reserve,” he points toward a park just down the highway.
To compete in the first-ever provincial championship for First Nations horseshoe pitchers, all players have to do is pre-register by August 2nd and show up with their entry fee and status card. Visitors will get to sample the hospitality of the host club members, three dozen of whom show up every Thursday to toss horseshoes in 14 regulation 40-foot pits. Carved out of the bush six years ago by Ken, 72, and his late son Emrick, the club offers all the amenities: parking, a barbecue area where competitors can buy burgers, hotdogs, and sausages, eight pits floodlit for night play, and a home-made outhouse with two horseshoe shapes neatly carved out of the door.
Horseshoes are supplied, many of them purchased by the club from one regular participant at club events who drives from Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Entertainment will be available in the form of a dance at the M’Chigeeng Community Complex, which will also serve as a fund-raiser for local Little NHL teams.
Club members are currently beating the bushes for sponsors for trophies and jackets for the winners, designing a logo for caps and T-Shirts to be sold as souvenirs of the inaugural event, and trying to get the word out about the championships. The public relations plan involves sending faxes out to First Nations across the province, and a volunteer to-do list also includes “toilet paper”.
The Rainbow Ringers have some experience staging tournaments. May’s Rusty Shoe kicks off the season, followed by the Ron Tann Memorial doubles event in June – named after a Mindemoya resident who was a former all-Ontario champion, the Alice Panamick/Adam Roy Memorial masters singles event in July, and a September friendly challenge with Wilberforce Legion members.
“We were always playing in backyards, and it just grew from there,” says Ken Migwans. Then players started coming from elsewhere on Manitoulin Island – Wikwemikong, Gore Bay – and further afield – Lively, Kalamazoo — and last year there were 45 paid-up Rainbow Ringers at $20 apiece.
Women players throw at the 18-inch-high pins from 30 feet. “Women are pretty good shooters,” says Ken, who would like to see more younger players from the community get involved.
For more information, please contact Cheyenne Migwans at 705-377-5964, by e-mail at lilfeather14@hotmail.com, or mail registrations to him at P.O. Box 105, M’Chigeeng, Ontario, P0P 1G0.