CABOT — 2016 has been a big year for the Cabot Parks and Recreation Department. With the opening of the new aquatics park and ball fields, the department has been able to serve the community in a variety of ways. In the next few weeks, the department will have a couple more attractions to start off 2017 with a bang.
The Veterans Park Community Center in Cabot will complete two expansions that will offer additional amenities to the community. The first project, set to open in January, is the events center.
“We expect to open it at the first of the year,” said Travis Young, Parks and Recreation Department executive director. “It’s really a nice building. Some of the architectural designs, some of the fixtures and the colors that go with everything, are really beautiful. There’s really a presence about them.”
The events center includes a large ballroom that can be split into three separate rooms, a commercial kitchen, a safe room large enough for 250 people, storage areas, an office for the director of the center and meeting rooms. Young said the vision for the center is to host luncheons, trade shows, other events and even weddings.
“Benton’s events center is almost booked daily,” Young said. “They have repetitive groups that are there every Monday at this time, for example, and we would love to have that type of commitment. I spent some time on the phone picking their brain because this is a new adventure for us. … I think our facility is going to sell itself.”
The second expansion at the community center is the new exercise area, which will include space for spin classes, fitness classes, cardio machines and weight-training equipment. This project is expected to be finished in February.
“We basically just had cardio equipment,” Young said of the old workout area. “Now we will be more of a complete weight room, fitness facility.”
The new facility will provide room and equipment for more classes, Young said, and there will be more personal-trainer positions that will need to be filled.
“As a department, we’re all really excited,” Young said. “As a whole, wrapping up the construction will probably take until March 1.”
The expansions to the community center were paid for with a 2013 bond initiative, and membership rates will not be affected by the expansions.
“That was one of the things that they promised the voters — and this was before my time as director — that the prices would not increase,” Young said. There is a possibility the day rate will fluctuate, but regular membership rates will not change. Membership rates can be found at www.cabotparks.com/daily-and-membership-rates.
Young said the two expansions to the community center will allow the department to be more well-rounded in serving the community.
“To become a whole recreation department, you have to look at other things besides sports and fitness,” he said. “There are other leisure opportunities out there that we aim to provide for our citizens.”
Young said he believes this time of growth will be seen as a turning point for the department, and its members are excited about the possibilities.
“The citizens have deserved this for a long time,” he said. “The city has seen so much growth, and there is strategic planning along the way. This was a great move. I can’t take any credit for it — it was in the works before I got here — but it has been great to visualize the future of Cabot.
“You see cities that have great parks departments, and usually [those cities are] great places to live. That’s our goal: to push every day to be one of the best parks departments in the state. We challenge our staff to do that as well.”