TERRE HAUTE —
The buzz at the front desk of the new Vigo County YMCA Monday was a lot like a bookstore in the early hours of a new Harry Potter release, minus the funny costumes.
Front desk workers, including YMCA CEO Deb Plummer and Vigo branch director Eleanor Ramseier, were busy all day taking the names of new members and helping prospective members get a feel for
the facility.
“It’s been a wonderful day,” Plummer said during one of the few moments she could come up for air between folks standing at the front desk.
“It’s been very busy, but that’s a good thing.”
Already Monday, the first day of operations for the new Vigo County YMCA, people were using the 25-yard, five-lane swimming pool, the fitness center, the free weights and the basketball gym.
At about 2 p.m., 15 kids from YMCA Summer Day Camp were in the pool, splashing about and having fun.
“We had a really good turnout for lap swim” early Monday, said LaJoya Smith, the aquatics director. Although water aerobics, swimming lessons and other activities will take place in the pool regularly, the Y hopes to leave one or two lanes open at all times for lap swimming, she said.
Swimming lessons open to anyone in the community will begin later this summer, Smith said.
When Monday began, the Vigo County YMCA had secured 360 members – 40 more than the original opening goal of 320. As the day went on, about 25 percent of the hundreds walking in the front door were prospective new members, Plummer said.
Sarah Freeze of Farrington Grove, who was working out in the fitness center, said she and her husband, Jake, are thrilled to have a pool they can use, adding they also appreciate the convenience of the new Y’s location in Fairbanks Park.
She also said it was sad the facility sat empty for more than a year, a feeling echoed by several people at the Y Monday.
The building housing the new Y was constructed for the Terre Haute YWCA in the mid-1970s. After the downtown YMCA closed its doors in 2006, the Fairbanks Park facility became home to the Terre Haute Family Y. It later became Riverbank Family and Fitness, which closed at the end of 2010 for financial reasons. Putting that last event in the past has been a primary goal of the new YMCA management, Plummer said.
“We’re working really hard to make sure we’re making a positive impression,” Plummer said, adding one of the goals of the Y all along has been to build trust and make no promises that cannot be honored in the long run.
“I like it because there’s a bunch of varieties of different things to do,” said Bently Norton, 12, who was shooting hoops with his dad, Sam, in the Y’s basketball gym Monday afternoon. The two said they were excited to have so many activities from which to chose, including using the new swimming pool.
For many, the Y’s return is more than just a place to play and exercise; it’s a place to meet old friends and make new ones.
“I have waited so long,” said Linda McMillan, 69, of Terre Haute, who joined the Y earlier this year and showed up for the first day of operations to get her membership card. In the past, McMillan would join her friends for water exercises in the facility and is hoping they all come back and start again.
“This is just a good place for so many people to get out,” McMillan said. “I don’t get to practice my social skills [at home]. I live with a cat,” she said smiling.
The YMCA got its new lease on life in Vigo County through an expansion of the Clay County YMCA, which reached an agreement with the City of Terre Haute and the Parks Board to operate in the Fairbanks Park facility.
For more information, visit the Y or check it out online at www.vigocountyymca.org.
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
Local & Bistate
Related Photos
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Wanna join: Caleb Burch (left) and sister Emmalynn Burch watch activities in the YMCA pool during the first day of operation Monday. They're checking out the new facility for possible membership.
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All hands on deck: The front desk of the YMCA is a hub of activity Monday afternoon on its first day of operation.
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Workout: Terre Haute resident and new YMCA member Sarah Freeze does her first workout at the new facility Monday during its first day of operation.
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On guard: YMCA lifeguards watch a group of young kids during Monday's first day of operation for the facility at Fairbanks Park.
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