By Drew Layton
With a new 24-hour gym, ongoing renovations, the upcoming senior games, and staff changes, there is a lot of buzz happening at the Perry Park Center in Perryville.
Perryville Parks and Recreation director Jim Cadwell called the changes and improvements coming to the Perry Park Center and its outside facilities in the coming months “exciting.”
Beginning with the 24-hour gym, Cadwell said that everything is completed, save for a few “punchline items.”
The 24-hour gym officially opened June 12. Cadwell explained that in order to gain access to the 24 hour gym, visitors must have a membership and a key fob, which costs $25 in addition to a regular Park Center membership.
The key fob will only work 30 minutes before the building closes until the time the building opens the next morning. This way, patrons will be allowed to park at the gym entrance and not have to walk all the way around the building to get back to their vehicle after the building has closed if they come in to work out before closing time.
When it comes to the renovations that the Perry Park Center has recently been experiencing, there was a question of whether or not the current space was being used by patrons.
Cadwell said the Perry Park Center had conducted a survey regarding the racquetball courts, which indicated that usage of the courts seemed low. There are potential ideas on how to renovate and use those spaces in other ways, but Cadwell emphasized that absolutely no decisions have been made as to whether or not the rooms would change.
“Oftentimes they sit vacant,” Cadwell said, “so the question is; is there a better use for that space that people will benefit from?”
Other current renovations include a recent flooring update in the downstairs level of the Park Center, which was done to match the flooring upstairs. According to Cadwell, painting of the downstairs level will most likely start around September or October of this year. After the downstairs renovations are completely finished, Cadwell expects the gymnasium to receive some updates.
“We are going to begin working on our capital improvement plan within the next few weeks, so it may begin next year or even the year after that,” Cadwell said.
Usually, the Perry Park Center and City Park host several baseball and softball tournaments throughout the summer. As of the date of this publishing, the Park Center does not have any other tournaments on its schedule.
“We will be having games from our own Park Center leagues until mid-July, but no tournaments,” Cadwell said.
The Park Center will be hosting the annual Senior Games in early August. The Senior Games attract people from all over, and sign ups are still open.
In addition to the Senior Games, craft, aquatic, and caving classes are offered by the Park Center throughout the summer and into the fall. Starting in September, the Park Center’s basketball league will start up again as well.
In addition to all of the changes to the building, there have also been some notable staff changes. Recently, both the maintenance supervisor and the aquatics supervisor have submitted their resignations. Maintenance supervisor Keith Riley’s last day will be in the middle of July, and aquatics supervisor Julie King’s last day will be June 30.
