For a whole year now, Sylvan Lakers have enjoyed hitting the pool, lacing up the skates, making some laps around the track and much more at the NexSource Centre.

(photo from ribbon cutting event in May of 2017 - courtesy Town of Sylvan Lake)

It was back in January of 2014 that the roof collapsed on Sylvan Lake's arena under the weight of heavy snow, the following year, construction started on a more than 33 million dollar recreation facility that opened its doors officially in May of last year.

The community has more than embraced the new facility according to Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator at the NexSource Centre, Jared Waldo.

“Membership numbers really spiked as soon as we opened up the door, I think people were just looking for an opportunity to get in and when we take a look at what we projected in terms of our memberships and revenue and what we actually solidified, it was astronomical, it far exceeded our expectations, you know over the course of the year we had about 350,000 people come through our doors”.

(photo courtesy Town of Sylvan Lake)

When Waldo thinks back to the soft opening in March of last year, he notes residents were thrilled to just get back into some of the activities they love.

“Our residents were so excited to have their pool back and our swimming lessons and our overall swim use, our nautical club, our swim clubs, you know just having our pool back, that body of water for those athletes, for those uses I think was very sorely missed.  Lessons were very busy, but even just our drop in pool time and our aqua fit programs in the morning have been insanely busy”.

Their goal was for the community to take ownership of the facility, and Waldo says they’ve absolutely done that, they thrive on feedback, and the offerings are still growing.

“Even after a year, we’re still finding our way, and trying to figure out what do we want to do, what can we do, and we’ve offered some different programs, we’ve found some different ways of utilizing the facility in the times that we do have”.

The NexSource Centre employs around 60 staff.

A one year anniversary celebration with events for the whole family kicks off later this afternoon and runs through tomorrow, for the full list of activities click here.