Memories Emerge for Locals with Demolition of Clubhouse

By Misty Cryer

Over the last two weeks, Riverside Country Club has been the talk of the town. In a Facebook post, the club announced the demolition of the old clubhouse, acknowledging it as “a bittersweet moment” in reference to saying goodbye to a place full of memories while making way for the future.

“They’ve built a new facility, which is phenomenal,” said Missi Currier. “The board and the membership have done a really great job of continuing to evolve and improve the club, but of course, with evolution always comes changes. It is definitely sad to see the old building go, even though we’re so excited for the new building,” she said.

About the old clubhouse, Jay Jenkins said, “It was a little sad to see it go, but hey, times change, and you know it definitely served its life for decades; flip the page and onward and upward.”

“So many of my childhood memories were at that club. Like so many others, that was the very first place—outside of my grandparent’s house—that I was allowed to ride my bike to by myself; kind of my first taste of little kid freedom,” said Currier.

“I am very thankful for the Riverside Country Club,” said Jenkins. “Some of the greatest memories I have are playing on the high school golf team, junior high and in high school.” He reminisced about his teammates playing at the club then coming to his house across the street. “We had the greatest times. It was so convenient because you had this big playground right across the street. We all loved to play golf, and that’s what we did,” he said.

“When I was little, summers were spent at the swimming pool; it was the greatest thing in the world. You would start with golf lessons in the morning; then it would start to get hot. Everybody would immediately go to the swimming pool for swim lessons. That was always really special. It provided not only fun but a little bit of structure during the summer,” said Currier.

In high school, Jenkins said, “I had a hole-in-one on hole No. 9, and a hole in one on No. 25. They had a hole-in-one board in the Country Club. Obviously, those two occurrences that I had at the Country Club are things I’ll never forget, but being on that board was also a great highlight.” He said the board was saved from his understanding, and he looks forward to seeing it in the new building. “That’s the roots of the Country Club—to see all the people that have those experiences and make those holding lines that stretch back for decades was always really cool,” he said.

“They used to always have a big Easter egg hunt. As we all know, in Carlsbad Easter always ends up being the windiest day of the year. I vividly remember chasing eggs around on the practice green as those plastic eggs rolled across that green,” said Currier.

“I believe it was Thursday night they used to have bingo, and that whole place would pack out—beyond being packed,” said Jenkins. “My mom and us kids, we’d all go play bingo. We had some of the greatest times over there with those bingo adventures,” he said.

“One of my favorite memories is they used to have a buffet dinner prior to Cavemen football games. I know they have different dinners every week, but the taco bar was always my absolute favorite. Everyone would be decked out in their Caveman Blue and all that, there about the same time, and go through the buffet, and then we would all go to the Cavemen game,” said Currier.

“On the sadder side, that place was actually where we had the reception for both my dad’s and my mom’s funeral services. So that place has always held the highest of highs and some other really tough moments of my life,” said Currier. “I can’t imagine that any of that would have happened anywhere else. The clubhouse was just such an important part of all of our lives, and I’m glad that we were able to celebrate them there.”

Currier said, comparing the new modern building to the original adobe clubhouse, “It’s beautiful. It’s larger and better accommodates both members’ and corporate events. The even better part about it is that the original club didn’t really take advantage of the views of the Pecos River like this new building does. I’m very grateful for the work and architecture design that they went through to ensure that they could really celebrate the views of the river.”