In an effort to recognize the building’s impact on the town, Parks and Recreation staff will dedicate the community center to Wrangell athletes of the past, present and future.
The event will take place at noon on Nov. 9 and will be sandwiched between the fourth and fifth grade all-star basketball games against Petersburg.
Devyn Johnson, Parks and Rec’s recreation coordinator, said that after the department’s recent upgrades and capital improvement projects, dedicating the community center felt like the right thing to do.
“We’ve been putting a lot of time and effort into bringing life back into the community center,” she said. “We just really love it in there.”
The community center wears several hats. There’s basketball open gym in the summer and pickleball in the fall and winter. Other activities ensure there is no season when the space goes unused. Recently, Nene Wilson has started teaching Zumba classes in the center’s multipurpose room. Youth basketball practices occupy the building on weeknights, while their games make sure the building doesn’t sit empty on the weekends.
The center’s gymnasium, built in the 1950s, used to be the high school gym until the current high school building was constructed 30 years later.
As a part of the ceremony, Parks and Rec is inviting back some of the gym’s previous athletes. Johnson said the Nov. 9 event will allow those who have experienced the gym in all sorts of different eras to tell their stories.
There will also be a brief history of the space. Parks and Rec staffer Lane Fitzjarrald will discuss some of the recent upgrades at the center, as well as Parks and Rec’s future improvement projects.
Johnson said she expects the event to last about 30 minutes.
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