Genesis Place Recreation Centre has cancelled group fitness classes and postponed much of its other programming until at least Nov. 27 in response to Premier Jason Kenney’s Nov. 12 announcement that team sports and group fitness activities are suspended for two weeks.
The multi-sport complex is among the facilities impacted by the Alberta government’s directive, which is meant to curb the ongoing spike of COVID-19 infections in Alberta.
“When the province announced Nov. 12 those restrictions were coming down on group fitness and group activities, we worked really closely with Alberta Health Services to really understand what the full breadth and depth of that public health order meant to us,” said Brad Anderson, Genesis Place manager. “There are about 20 classes a week that we had to cancel for our fitness classes.”
- INTERACTIVE MAP: See the latest COVID-19 statistics across Canada by province/territory on our interactive map
According to Anderson, even a two-week interruption to programming will have a substantial impact on Genesis Place’s revenue.
“Across all community facilities in the city of Airdrie, even this two-week shut down is probably going to amount to a revenue loss of nearly $100,000, when you look at all the arena ice times, field house rentals, swim rentals, program refunds and credits, as well as past cancellations for people who can’t access the fitness classes they want to any longer,” he said. “It has a pretty massive impact back on Airdrie’s tax base, even with such a short-term closure or suspension of activity.”
While Anderson said Genesis Place is not considering any layoffs as a result of the impact, he said many of the facility’s employees who work hourly will not be scheduled for any shifts until the suspension is over.
“We’re hoping this is just a short-term suspension of activity and that we can start ramping up again at the end of November,” he said. “Of course, most of the activities impacted are all casual staff.
"It certainly has an impact on a personal level for our casual employees.”
As per Kenney’s announcement, Genesis Place will not be offering swim lessons or drop-in team sports like basketball. Group exercise classes for yoga, spin and dance will also be halted.
Genesis Place will not be able to offer any team bookings for hockey, indoor soccer or other sports until after Nov. 27.
“It had a really major impact on the sport user groups in Airdrie,” Anderson said. “Pretty much all the sport user groups were made to shut down for at least a minimum two-week period. The direction we got was that if they have more than three people on an ice surface, field house or gymnasium, it wouldn’t be allowed to proceed.”
The only sports and activities that can continue to occur at Genesis Place are individual-based, where participants can maintain six feet of distancing. According to Anderson, these include pickleball and badminton, when a maximum of four people from the same family or household cohort are playing, as well as drop-in lane swimming and public swimming.
Drop-in public skating is still being offered, with the use of a booking system that Anderson said can be used with a MyAirdrie account.
Genesis Place's steam room, childcare facility and fun place remain closed.
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
