By Justin Goulet (@JustinGoulet21)

New Cor Van Raay YMCA to open May 4

Apr 8, 2019 | 12:31 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Residents and guests to the Bridge City will be able to check out the Cor Van Raay YMCA next month.

On Monday, Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman announced that the recreational centre, located in West Lethbridge as part of the ATB Centre, will open on Saturday, May 4.

“This is an important time for the city of Lethbridge and for the citizens of Lethbridge. This is going to be a tremendous facility which can be accessed by people of all ages. People can come from across the city to use this, this is a pan-Lethbridge facility, so we hope that seniors will come, that students will come, we hope that families will come and people with all abilities will come,” he said.

“What’s important from the City of Lethbridge’s perspective is to make sure the city is substantially complete and that the YMCA employees are trained to operate the facility. Certainly, we value the partnerships of the Cor Van Raay YMCA, the YMCA staff and working together I’m really confident that this is going to be a tremendous success.”

Spearman added that it’s a “source of pride” that crews have been able to build a facility “of this quality” in Lethbridge. The new YMCA is the third largest of its kinds in North America.

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The 256,000 square foot centre boasts an impressive list of features, including a fitness centre, field house, gymnasiums, child minding programs, an indoor playground, and a running track.

There’s also the aquatic centre, which includes a lazy river, waterslides, lap pool, a whirlpool, zero depth entry wave pool, a climbing wall and the FlowRider surf-simulator.

READ MORE: Cor Van Raay YMCA expected to open this spring at ATB Centre

“Our goal is to build healthy communities and this facility will enable us to do that here in Lethbridge and surrounding areas in such a more significant and important way than we’ve been able to do in our old facility (on Stafford Drive),” said Stephen Mogdan, Lethbridge YMCA Board Chair.

Mogdan said the Stafford Drive centre ceased operations at the end of March, in preparation of the opening of the new Cor Van Raay YMCA.

He said having an official opening date will help staff better answer questions from YMCA members.

“Understandably, construction takes time and I think the City’s managed that really well, but it left us without a date. (However) now, we can target towards that. We can tell our members exactly what’s going to be happening, we can direct them to the website, we can give them program information and get everybody excited. It’s going to be fantastic.”

During the Monday morning event, Mogdan discussed the subject of membership pricing going forward.

“Anybody who had a YMCA membership in 2018 – their membership will still be at that same rate. The new rates, I think there was a small annual adjustment – nothing to do with moving to a new facility but just a small annual adjustment, that will be reflected on our website,” he explained.

Further details on pricing can be found at lethbridgeymca.org.

Even with the opening date set, he noted that there’s still more work to do over the next few weeks in preparation of May 4.

“The scale of this facility compared to the old facility really means that we can’t just transplant our people from the old (Stafford location) to the new facility. There’s so much more that they have to know,” he said.

He went on to explain that, “there are so many more procedures, all of the systems are new, the systems in the old facility were fifty years old … really that’s what our efforts have been directed at for the most part for the last month or so, getting that staff  up and running. In the meantime, we have been doing a lot of hiring.”

He said the staffing goal is 225 hires, and right now, they’re at around 175.

The Cor Van Raay YMCA at the ATB Centre will be open Monday through Friday from 5:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. (pool and fitness floor close at 10:00 p.m.), Saturday through Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (pool and fitness floor close at 8:00 p.m.) and statutory holidays from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The public is also invited to tours of the facility starting April 10. More information is available at lethbridgeymca.org.

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