Attendance at new Shawnee Park Center dips; manager expects numbers to rise when weather cools

When Darryl Reddin wants to work out, he doesn't like to fight crowds at an overpriced health club. He doesn't want to have to drive across town and stand in line to use the latest fitness equipment.

At Shawnee Park Center, he doesn't have to.

"It's almost like having my own private gym," he said while lifting weights Wednesday morning. "I can get in, get out and get it done."

Including spectators at basketball league games, more than 7,000 people have visited the center since it opened in March.

The center has averaged 25 to 30 visitors each day using its basketball courts, weight room and attending fitness classes, said Heather Davis, Shawnee Park Center manager.

"The first couple weeks we were more like 50. Everybody wanted to come check it out, but when we started programming some other things, attendance went down," she said.

She expects more people to use the facility this fall as the weather turns cooler and new programs are offered at the center.

Throughout June and July, Shawnee Park Center was used for the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department's boys and girls summer basketball leagues in a rotating schedule that included the Osage Centre and the Arena Building. Three nights a week the center was used for league play.

"By opening this facility, we were able to expand our leagues. We had as many as four courts going at one time," Davis said.

Seven boys basketball teams and several girls teams were added to the league this summer due to the expanded capacity.

"It also brought people into the building who wouldn't normally come in. A lot of those people we've retained and they've been coming in during open gym time," Davis said.

Unintended consequence

Unfortunately, the league play in the gym meant that it wasn't open for public use three nights a week, which did lead to an overall decrease in the public's use of the gym. Davis expects that to pick back up after this week when league play ends.

"With the Osage Centre. too, in the winter is when we get the most visitors. When it starts to cool down is when we expect people to come back inside. We're looking forward to seeing what our numbers will be when the winter hits," Davis said.

About 75 percent of those using the center are from the city's south side, an area largely made up of low-income residents.

"Most walk or ride their bikes, so if you don't see a lot of cars in the parking lot it doesn't mean no one is here," Davis said.

During the day, since school is out, most of the center's visitors have been between the ages of 10 and 16, she said. In the evening, when the gym is open for full-court play, it draws an older crowd of 18- to 24-year-olds.

Davis is the center's only full-time employee, and there are 24 part-time employees who help staff the center.

The city has applied for a three-year $300,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to help fund programs and improvements at the Shawnee Park Center. The grant, if received, would also fund staffing for after-school programs, playground equipment, sidewalks and additional lighting. The city should be notified in September whether it will receive the grant.

Davis and other parks department staff have been meeting with community organizations to develop an after-school program at the center this fall. Details are not yet finished, but Davis hopes the program will be up and running around the time school starts.

"It's something we've been meeting on the last few weeks. It's a goal to have somewhere for the children to go after school and a program they can participate in," Davis said.

Davis hopes the program will fill the void left by the closure of the Family Resource Center, which operated an after-school program at its facility on 1202 S. Sprigg St. In June, the Family Resource Center announced it was closing and put its building up for sale.

Davis is also working on family-friendly holiday events at the center for Halloween and Thanksgiving. A Youth Basketball Challenge for ages 9 to 16 has been planned for Aug. 27.

The center has been rented 15 times by families, churches and community groups bringing the center's rental income above projections so far, Davis said.

The parking lot and roadway that connects the center to the rest of the Shawnee Sports Complex will be paved by the end of the summer, Davis said.

"That will definitely improve the outside of the facility," Davis said. "We are also looking at a plan to extend Walnut Street to West End so children could walk up the sidewalk on Walnut street, cross over West End and to come to the center."

The extension of Walnut Street, from Beaudean Lane to West End Boulevard is part of a $800,000 renovation and expansion project included in the city's Transportation Trust Fund 4 initiative. Design work for the project is expected to be done next year with construction starting in 2013, said David Whitaker, assistant city engineer. TTF-4 also includes road improvements and new sidewalks on West End Boulevard from Linden Street to Jefferson Avenue. The $750,000 project will be designed this year, with construction starting in 2012.

The West End Boulevard improvement project will include a closer entrance to the center, Whitaker said.

Shawnee Park Center is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $2 per person. A photo ID is required. Those who do not have one may obtain one free at the Osage Centre.

Shawnee Park Center will soon convert to the electronic ID system used at Osage, Davis said, but that equipment is not yet in place.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

835 S. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, MO