The Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center drew a large number of visitors during the holiday break, with the record attendance set Monday, Jan. 2, at more than 493 people visiting the facility during that day.
Matt Siders, director of the facility and Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation, noted they had seen sharp attendance on both Saturday, Dec. 24 and Saturday, Dec. 31, despite only being open from 8 a.m. to noon due to the holidays. Attendance Dec. 24 was 170 and attendance Dec. 31 was 201.
Further, the facility also drew more than 80 people on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, when the facility was not officially open to the general public. Attendance Christmas Day was 84, with New Year’s Day seeing 93 attending.
“All of these visiting numbers do not include any facility rentals that we had during the holiday period,” Siders said.
In further attendance totals, Dec. 27 had 424, Dec. 28 478, Dec. 29 405 and Dec. 30 389.
According to Sarah Boots, the average for that same time period in 2021 holiday season was 264. This year, that average increased to 351 over the same period of days.
“Our max attendance during that same time last year was 334,” Boots said. “I don’t want people to be worried that we’re too busy or packed. Those numbers account for the entire span of the day, and with kids out of school for the holiday, we just see a lot of activity at the center during the holiday week. With kids back to school, our attendance numbers have evened back to usual December numbers.”
The center is slated to kick-off adult and senior center programs today (Thursday, Jan. 12), with an introduction of the schedule of speakers and classes. That event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the center. Guest speaker events on Thursdays will be held 1-3 p.m. Thursdays beginning Jan. 19 through the end of March.