Roughly two years after opening its doors for the first time, the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center is busier than ever.
Matt Siders, parks and recreation director, notes there are multiple options for memberships to the center available, including reduced costs for seniors and members of the military. There are also monthly, three-month and full-year membership options.
And as the temperatures outside get a little more frightful, Siders notes that the number of people utilizing the facility is trending upwards.
The center officially opened Jan. 31, 2020, and by March 16, 2020, had to shutter doors for a span during 2020 as people grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen more and more people being comfortable with being back to exercising in person,” Siders said.
The program has started offering more and more programming over the past several years.
One of their biggest events is offering an after-school recreation club, especially on early out school days at Mount Vernon. Known as the Mount Vernon REC program, the event runs from 1:15 until 4 p.m. during those early out days for youth in the 11 to 15 age range.
The center is looking to host a few kids’ night out events in December, a chance for parents to get an evening out to shop for the holidays or just have an evening out with other adults.
The club is offering youth weight days as well, where youth ages 14 to 15 can get the opportunity to lift weights and learn how to do so safely without an adult, and youth 12 to 13 can use the equipment with supervision of an adult.
“We find those events fill up very quickly,” Siders said.
There’s also an esports league that meets occasionally after school at the center.
One of the big draws for the Buresh Center is the Infinity Game Table, a game table that allows youth to play board games including items like checkers, chess, Life and other classic board games.
“One of the things that the Infinity Table exceeds at is allowing us to have 36 different games that we never lose the pieces to,” Siders said.
The center is also hosting a craft-a-gnome event this Saturday, where people have an opportunity to build a holiday gnome as a holiday craft. It’s one of different craft activities offered throughout the year.
On the adult side, Siders noted that co-ed volleyball leagues will be running this winter, with games taking place on Sunday evenings.
Pickleball is a sport that is gaining huge popularity at the center, with many adults playing in the morning or afternoon leagues at the gym on Mondays and Wednesdays or whenever a few people want to borrow space on the court in the center.
There’s also the start of a class to teach adults how to play the card game Bridge this winter as well.
Certification classes for babysitting and first aid are also being offered at the facility.
The Buresh Center also has numerous group fitness classes that are being offered.
“We’re also expecting more people will make fitness challenges or improvements as part of their lives this winter,” Siders said. “We’re here to support people’s health care journey and will hold fitness related challenges at the center this winter to help motivate people towards their goals.”
For people who are looking for more specialized care, there’s also a chance to meet with a personal trainer who will help organize a workout schedule for you.
For families with young children, the tot time program running from 9 to 11 a.m. gives parents and toddlers a chance to utilize the wellness center and socialization.
And if you’re looking for a place to host your family gatherings or holiday parties, renting space at the center can accommodate those gatherings.
“We’ve had church groups, Boy Scouts and Girl Scout troops and other school groups choose to hold gatherings right here,” Siders said.
Siders said there are prime hours for the center, especially 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., that rental of the facilities is prohibited, as there are numerous members of the community who utilize the building at those times.
The center also has a limit on how many days in a row the entire gymnasium can be rented out.
“We prohibit a group from using more than two consecutive days in a month,” Siders said. “We want members of the community as well as our users to not have the center not be unavailable for too long.”
During the winter months, the indoor track is definitely one of the areas of the center that gets a lot of use.
For any former members of the Buresh Center who still have their old key cards, Siders strongly encourages that those cards be returned to the facility when memberships are canceled.
“The chips in those cards are one of the COVID-19 shortages we’re running into,” Siders said.
The rock wall is one of the activities people renting the facility and members can enjoy in their time at the facility.