Hay River sees progress toward reopening rec facilities

The Town of Hay River believes it is on track to reopen ice surfaces at the community recreation centre by mid-October.

Director of recreation Stephane Millette told town council at Tuesday night’s meeting a reopening plan submitted by the town had been well-received by environmental health officials.

After one or two small changes, the plan now awaits final approval.

“We should get an approval letter by the end of the week, and our reopening of the ice surface on October 13 still seems like a realistic, and even conservative deadline,” Millette told council.

The Hay River recreation centre reopened on September 14 with the walking track and customer service desk now available to the public.

Millette said those facilities are currently being used by around five people each day. That figure is expected to gradually rise.

Some after-school youth programming has also resumed, with registration for those programs now at maximum capacity.

Most evening fitness classes being offered met minimum registration numbers, averaging five to six people per class.

The concession stand is running dine-in service with four tables available.

In submitting a final reopening plan for recreation facilities this week, the town appears to be ahead of its own schedule. Initial drafts of the reopening plan envisaged the town would submit it for approval in October.

That could mean facilities like the pool reopen sooner than planned, Millette told council.

“Our original date [for the pool] was November 9, but I think that might be a conservative date and we might be able to reopen even earlier than that if all goes well,” he said.

Earlier this month, Millette said the hope is to create “bubbles” in which the same people attend the same events at recreation facilities, so residents are interacting with familiar people.