Beards, beer and bonspiels: curling is the new obsession for Brooklyn hipsters

What happens when pickling becomes passé? When beards get boring? Well, the Brooklyn hipster looks for something new -- and that something happens to involve brooms and a lot of yelling. Yes, the great Canadian pastime of curling has come to New York.

Canadian transplant Wendy Peace recently decided to offer curling lessons at a new outdoor skating complex in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. To her surprise, Brooklynites have flocked to the club -- which is the only curling venue in the entire city.

Wendy tells As It Happens guest host Helen Mann, "Brooklyn is loving curling. And what's awesome is the hipsters are mingling with the oldsters and the youngsters, and everyone in between. It's cut across all demographics."

Although New York has been without curling for many years, Wendy says the city actually has a rich history with the sport. "They used to do it out on the ponds in Central Park and in Prospect Park. We have the two lakes there, and they would curl on those."

Canadian curling purist can rest easy that another one of the sport's key traditions -- drinking -- is also being maintained, but the curlers are sipping Brooklyn Lager in between ends.

Blast from the past: New York has a long, but recently neglected, curling history: