After months of renovations and repairs, the Bragg Creek Community Centre is now up and running regular programs and will be accepting bookings again towards the middle of October.
“It’s a whole facelift here, and we are very excited,” said facility director Luanne Murphy. “We’ve got some new faces on our team here and our playground is up and running, so it’s great to be able to bring our programs back to our facility. This really is the hub of our community.”
The centre was forced to close in January after a water leak flooded the interior of the facility. According to Murphy, the water originated from a leak in the centre’s fire suppression system, which has now been completely replaced.
“We’ve had all of our main lines and secondary lines replaced, an entirely new system in our kitchen and brand-new fire panel,” Murphy said. “All of that has been taken care of and now we are in the stage of inspections and testing.”
The facility’s gym was heavily damaged by the water leak, Murphy said. Half of the ceiling was replaced and new sound baffles installed, and fire-retardant stage curtains will be installed. The centre also features a new, updated gym floor.
“We’ve gone with a rubberized-type surface, instead of a wood floor like we had before,” Murphy said. “It has a wood grain in more grey-brown tones, and our sporting lines are done in black and grey so they are a little more subtle. We get a lot of weddings and events and going into a gymnasium is sometimes not very appealing, so we’re trying a new approach to make this facility a bit more modern than it was before.”
The sound equipment and lighting are currently still being installed, but Murphy said programming started again at the facility Sept. 26 – after being relocated for the last nine months.
“We did manage to not have to cancel any of our programs while we did these repairs, so that was really great,” she said. “People really look forward to the programming we offer.”
With movie nights, acrobatics, gymnastics, tutoring, parkour, cooking, dog training and even language classes, the facility provides a wide range of options for residents of Bragg Creek and the surrounding area. Murphy said it’s important for the centre to offer programming the community will appreciate.
“A lot of people have to travel to Calgary for programs for their kids, which means they are just getting home and then having to turn around and take off again,” she said.
“That’s something we’ve really focused on this year, bringing in some good quality programs right here in Bragg Creek. We’re trying to stay in touch with residents and getting feedback as to what they are interested in.”
For more information about the programs available at the centre, visit their website at braggcreekca.com
