Recreation Center Opens Today!
Today, December 18th 2009, marks the official opening of the new Recreation Center in the Winter Park & Fraser Valley. Thanks to land and infrastructure donations of $4.2 million, the center is called the Grand Park Community Recreation Center, and is located on the west side of the US Highway 40 just after leaving the town of Winter Park.
The center has been a very long time coming, and if truth be told, was built amidst a little bit of controversy regarding funding, voter approval and other miscellaneous disputes. However, this is my blog post, so casting all that aside – as someone very much in favor of it – I am thrilled that we now have this fantastic facility in our community.
I went down there this morning to look around for the first time, take some pictures, and see how everything was going. There was a real air of excitement in the aquatics area, with families and kids enjoying everything on offer. So what is on offer?
- The aquatics area has a 20ft loop slide – the sort of thing you might get in an all-inclusive resort – as well as spray and play feature, lazy river, zero-depth entry pool and 4-lane lap pool and diving boards.
- Whirlpool, sauna and steam room
- Climbing wall
- Multi-sport gymnasium
- Gymnastics center including foam & tramp pit
- Running/walking track
- Cardio, circuit training & free weight area
- Aerobic/dance studio room
- Drop-in childcare
Non-resident daily fees are $7 for children 3-12, $8 for youth 13-17 and $10 for adults, with 6-month and annual memberships available.
In my opinion, any activity or amenity to enhance the profile of our towns and hopefully encourage more visitors and longer stays is OK by me. Virtually anything that requires increased residential taxes to fund it will stir up emotions and a core of people who don’t want to pay. However, they were out-voted – twice! Furthermore, we are a resort community, competing with the likes of Breckenridge, Steamboat and Vail, and this new facility definitely enhances our reputation.
In addition, we are a family-oriented, residential community with very little to occupy our youth, kids and toddlers, especially during the winter months. This is a great place to go, work out and have some fun – with the family or without – so check it out and enjoy!
cathy
January 9th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Looks really nice!! hoping to check it out when we are in W Park in 3 weeks!!