EDMONTON- It was a busy day at Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre Sunday, as the facility celebrated its one year anniversary.
The facility has seen amazing growth since the new features- including the large aquatic centre, fitness centre, gymnasium and field house- opened to the public last year. Close to 500,000 people have passed through the doors at the rec centre over the past year, which far exceeded the projected 325,000 people.
“We’ve had great attendance, a lot of involvement with the public and with local communities,” said Deanna Kayne, a special event coordinator with the City of Edmonton.
Young Siem Goitom is just one of the patrons who uses the facility on a regular basis.
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“I just come play for fun,” he said. “I go swimming, play soccer, play football. Sometimes I go run on the track with my friends.”
But, his favourite activity is basketball.
“I’m meeting a lot of new people playing basketball,” said Goitom, who is new to Edmonton. His family moved to the city from Africa just five years ago.
Kayne says the facility has focused on attracting people of all ages from the surrounding communities, to enjoy all that the rec centre has to offer.
“We have a social living room. Visiting and meeting and having coffee together is a big part of a lot of the cultural practice of people in this area,” Kayne explained. “There’s a great multicultural spread in our patronage and it just continues to grow.”
Kayne also noted that the drop-in youth basketball program is one of the busiest at the facility.
“This really is becoming a community hub, a community centre where kids come, youth come, to spend time doing things that are productive, that are recreation-based and that are encouraging healthy interactions and lifestyles.”
Goitom says having fun at the rec centre is a much better use of his time than what he would be doing otherwise.
“(I would be) staying home watching TV or playing video games,” he said.
With files from Shannon Greer.
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