What’s in a name? In this case what do you call the Community Centre when you tell someone you are going up there for a hockey game, Fall Fair, workout or any one of a hundred things you can do up here? I was reflecting on this only because I heard an advertisement for a recent event on the radio where everyone was invited up to the “Rec-plex”. Huh? I thought that was in Cranbrook. I also recently heard it referred to as the “Communiplex” which is probably reflective of the name from perhaps a different community that the person came from.
10 or 15 years ago at a Creston Valley Services meeting, I remember the discussion and eventual direction that we refer to this gathering place as the “Creston & District Community Complex” which of course generated the acronym CDCC you see stenciled on chairs and tables because, well, painting the whole name on a chair is really difficult. The rationale, which still stands to this day, is to show inclusiveness of the whole Creston Valley community which starts in Yahk and essentially goes to Riondel (despite some taxation area variations). It makes sense to me because we are all a community, are we not? The “Complex” portion indicates we are way more than an ice rink or just used for leisure; there is a myriad of different functions that happen here, as you may know, outside the scope of recreation such as funerals, meetings, rehabilitation, elections and perhaps weddings which fall somewhere between recreation and sombre gathering depending on the participants.
I think the unofficial popular version would have to be “Rec Centre” because it kind of rolls off the tongue and actually back in the day, prior to RDCK involvement, it was run by the Creston Valley Recreation Centre Association. I have also seen letterhead with Creston Valley Civic Centre Association on it and some still refer to it as the “Civic Centre”. Like the saying goes - Call me whatever you want, but just don't call me late for dinner – as long as you are coming up and using the place, that’s the important thing.
One more reason to come up and visit us is that we just heard from the good folks at Java Tree, which is the concession at the Rec Centre, they have now extended their hours to 9 am till 1 pm Monday through Friday. Coupled with our relaxing lobby seating, you can now take the time after a vigorous morning workout to stoke up on calories and…wait; our fitness people said I’m not supposed to say that. OK, we invite you après workout to enjoy a great cup of coffee and a snack to take the edge off (but check out all the other goodies just in case). Or just come up and grab lunch while checking out your emails and Facebook with our free Wi-Fi. It’s all good!