Rain and stormy days dampened the pushed-back season start day of Lac La Biche's Paul Richard Memorial Spray Park — but as the sun came out in the days following the June 26 opening, so did the people.
Since it was originally unveiled in 2015, the park — built in part with donations from the family of an area businessman and father who was killed while on a canoe trip in 2014 —has operated from late May to October. This year, Lac La Biche County officials kept the park closed until last week due to provincial COVID-19 precautions. Those precautions are still restricting some aspects of the spray park, with occupancy numbers limited to just 25.
The park was a busy spot over the weekend. On Saturday, the local Brownies group held their end of the year appreciation event at the park.
Lac La Biche's Bold Center has also much busier than it has been over the last three months. Closed to the public since the middle of March, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 200,000 square foot recreation centre re-opened last Thursday. With restrictions in place that limit the amount of people in the facility and encourage pre-registered visits — as well as increased health and safety measures — those closest to the facility's operations are cautiously optimistic.
"We want to move forward getting all the facilities open and all the programs running," says Darrell Lessmeister, Lac La Biche County's senior manager of recreation, admitting that the many aspects of the global pandemic continue to make those kinds of plans challenging. "This is a moving target. We get new information every day."
The Bold Center will remain open on reduced hours — noon to 8 pm daily — until officials are confident the new protocols are helping in fight to keep the respiratory virus from spreading. Since contraction records began in Alberta, Lac La Biche County has yet to record a single, confirmed case of the virus.
Assessments of each visitor will be taken at the entrance to the facility and anyone inside the building will be required to follow all of the new guidelines.
"People can't be hanging out, loitering, and those coming in to use the facility — once they are done, they have to leave," said Lessmeister.
While one of the two fieldhouses is open, as well as the Canadian Natural walking track and the fitness centre, the majority of the building remained off-limits to the public, including the two ice arenas, change rooms and the childcare area.
Timelines for a larger-scale opening of those areas, as well as the Portage Aquatic Centre, have not been defined.
"We really can't give exact times," said Lessmeister, adding that a tentative date to re-open the swimming pool had been set for August 4 — but that could change. "Things are continuously changing."
Plamondon and Lac La Biche Ice
An example of those continuous changes are the ongoing plans by hockey associations across the province and the country. While some provincial organizations are preparing to put teams on the ice, the recreation boss isn't sure how that will work.
"How do you play hockey six feet away from someone?" he asked.
Even if the green light was given by provincial health authorities for local hockey to begin, Lessmeister says it takes at least two weeks to install the artificial ice into the arenas at the Bold Center.
For Plamondon skaters, Lessmeister says his staff have October 1 circled on the calendar for a potential opening of the Plamondon arena. Curling rinks in the community have a tentative open date of October 5.
All of the dates, however, a subject to change. So is the current schedule for Bold Center use.
"At some point when we can see things working, we will extend the hours," Lessmeister said.
Membership extensions
Also being extended are membership passes by facility users. Anyone who had purchased user passes that were disrupted by the three and a half month closure will have their memberships extended by that time.
While the reduced hours, pre-registry and reduced program access might have some residents upset, Lessmeister said all the provisions are being done for the safety of the public and the staff. He wants to see the facility back to its regular schedule of 6 am to 11 pm daily — but it has to be done correctly.
"Right now it's all about educating the staff and the public. This first schedule is a little bit of a buffer for staff and the public. We want to get there — but it has to be in a manageable way," he said.
Some activities associated with the municipality's recreation department are starting up this week, including a biking group outing on July 8. The Summer Fitness series also began this week, and children's activities with the Summer Shack program and Fun Van events are also starting up.
For details on recreation programming, schedules and on-going restrictions, go to the Bold Center's website through the link in the digital version of this article at www.lakelandtoday.ca
