Jackson Civic Center becomes popular quickly

During the Jackson Civic Center’s first two weeks of operation, the residents of Jackson seem to have taken to the new facility.

Civic Center manager Jason Lipe said the facility has been averaging 47 users a day since opening.

“There’s usually 15 people here for the early birds, and the majority of people are coming in after 3 p.m.,” he said. “In total, we’ve had a little over a thousand people who have paid to come in and use it.”

He said one of the most popular of the speculative programs is pickleball.

The sport seems to borrow equally from pingpong, volleyball and tennis and is played on a hardwood court.

Hunter Seabaugh opens gifts at his birthday party at the Jackson Civic Center on Sunday.Fred Lynch

“What we’re doing now is sort of a trial run with some of the pickleball players,” Lipe said. “The next step would be to schedule some times that people could come in for open play.”

Lipe said basketball teams also have come in regularly to use the facilities, and pickleball isn’t the only fitness trial balloon the Civic Center is putting out.

“We’re also looking into some things like yoga classes or Pilates classes,” Lipe said, “or if people are looking for something a little more high-intensity, like a Zumba or a BodyPump class. We’re just seeing what people are interested in at this point.”

But the center is more than a sports complex. Lipe said community response has exceeded expectations with event hosting at the facility.

“The Red and Black (Affair) event was obviously the biggest one we’ve had yet, but we’ve also had some birthday parties,” he said.

He said the events calendar is filling up with parties and wedding showers.

“Really about the only problems we’ve had so far is that we’re too popular,” he said. “Sometimes I have to tell someone ‘no’ because someone else got to that date first for that time. I’m getting multiple calls a day.”

Private donations also have continued to roll in, Lipe said. Sports equipment, cable televisions and four sets of bleachers have been bought so far with the money from fundraising.

“The last [fundraising] total I heard was $180,000 but pushing the $200,000 mark with commitments that we were still waiting on checks in hand for,” Lipe said. “We’ve just been really happy with the support that we’ve gotten, and it’s great to be able to show off our facility. I know a lot of Jackson residents take great pride in that facility, and that’s something we’re really happy about. “

tgraef@semissourian.com

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