Delta center celebrates 15th year

DELTA — The community came out on a crystal clear Saturday to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Delta's Bill Heddles Recreation Center.

Families crowded onto the lawn areas to enjoy field sports and running events. Inside swimmers partook in water games, tossing a ball over a net and racing across the pool. Midday, community gathered to share a celebratory lunch.

Director of Culture and Recreation Wilma Erven said the largest milestone for the center has been making it completely accessible to the community for many activities. The center actually opened in late March 1993, but the facility was already booked for the true anniversary date and organizers moved the celebration to April.

The center's affordability and accessibility attracts people from all walks of life who enjoy its offerings. For them the center has played an integral role in their lives.

Rhonda Jones, who swims and plays racquetball, has been coming to the center for about 10 years, usually three to four times each week.

"It's a great resource," she said. "It's very user-friendly and family-oriented."

The first day Brad Kahrs came to Delta, he went to the recreation center and was impressed by what he found. Kahrs moved to Colorado from Michigan five years ago.

"I said, 'For a small town, this is an awesome facility,'" he recalled. "I'll be honest, it was cool."

A runner, Kahrs usually comes into the center once a week to lift weights and use the ellipticals to take the stress off his joints.

"I don't think there's very many communities this size that have such a nice facility," he said. "It's awesome and the activities like this, go beyond (what it offers)."

Myrna Murray, who has been coming to center for about 8 years, works in Delta. She spends her lunches and afterwork hours exercising at the facility. Both she and her husband get a lot of use out of it.

"It's (the center) valuable because there's a lot of older people that come for swimming. The aerobics classes are always full. It's hard to get a racquetball court and the weight

room is full. So I think it's getting a lot of use from all ages," she said.

Some people don't use the indoor facilities but frequent the outdoor fields and tracks throughout Confluence Park. James Vasquez runs in the area every other day.

"It's really good for the community," he said "You have running, swimming, basketball, so it's really good."

With the high volume use and support for the initiative to extend tax funding for nine more years, Erven said she anticipates being able to expand facilities.

"Our wildest dream would be to do an indoor slide for the youth and to do a fairly large leisure pool, which is a warmer pool about four-feet deep for our seniors for their water fitness classes," she said. Extra space is also needed for the weight, cardio and meeting rooms.

Contact Lisa Huynh at lisah@montrosepress.com