At Centennial Park the other day I ran into some friends. Your grandchildren must be here, one commented. I affirmed the observation and they pointed out the area where theirs were. Then the conversation turned to the park itself. Isn’t this a great park. We agreed and chatted about how it has changed over the years, and then brought the rec centre into the mix. It, too, drew rave reviews, and I joked, “Yeah, life sucked for our kids.”
Twenty-five years ago our visits to Centennial Park were almost always for baseball. Our sons both played and Angela and I, like so many parents, would haul our lawn chairs to the sidelines to watch the games. The nearby roofed, partial-walled building — what’s that thing called, anyway? — was often packed with a family or community group that gathered to eat and recreate. It was a pretty simple place, but there always seemed to be something going on in the park.
Today, after years of fundraising efforts, Centennial Park is a terrific place to take the family on a summer day. The Rotary splash park is the big draw, of course, but the colourful play structure is popular, too. Even the blue steel exercise machines, designed for adults, is a draw for young ones. Credit to Rotarians for their vision and hard work to transform the park into a great family getaway, and one that doesn’t cost a cent to enjoy. Pack up a lunch and the kids are happy to spend hours and hours of commercial-free time.
This week, the routine for our visiting grandkids, ages two and five, is to visit Centennial Park for a picnic and playtime, go back home so the little guy can nap, and then drive down the hill to the community complex, where they spend another couple of hours in the water.
Again, thoughts turn to the many, many hours we spent there with our boys. Both took swimming lessons in the outdoor pool and they played hockey from fall to spring. Neither pool nor rink was extravagant but they served their purpose quite nicely. But walking into the rec centre now never fails to make me smile. When I think of the enormous efforts to get a borrowing approval to referendum, and to pass, I can’t help but feel admiration for the countless meetings and hours by a relatively small handful of volunteers who were able to convince others that their vision would be of benefit to the entire community.
There are those who complain about their increased property taxes, but I am not one. I am proud that my community supported the referendum and that the visionaries didn’t cheap out with an “It’s good enough for Creston” attitude that inevitably placates the lowest common denominator. The Creston and District Community Complex continually raises the eyebrows of visitors who are astonished at its high quality. And, several years after its construction, I have yet to hear anyone say that they have visited a community with a nicer aquatic centre.
My time in the pool is restricted to these visits by our grandchildren, but I am more than happy to slither around in the shallow pool and lazy river, watching the five-year-old, who is pretty much a fish in the water, and the two-year-old, who can amuse himself endlessly by creating little games that help him connect with the world around him. At two, the world is one giant test laboratory, and the pool is obviously a great place to conduct his experiments. On Monday, he spent a couple of hours amusing himself with three yellow plastic ducks, throwing, chasing, herding, amused as only a toddler can be. Every few minutes his sister would swim over to play, but he was equally happy to create his own amusement. As suppertime drew near, neither were in the slightest happy to leave the water, even with the promise that we would be back the next day.
So is life better for this new generation, with the splash park and playgrounds at Centennial Park and the great facilities in the community complex? Our kids never thought they were hard done by when they were swimming or playing ball or hockey, but both are thrilled that their children can come back to Creston and enjoy what we have today. And, for the grandparents, the improvements are genuinely appreciated. So three generations would give a enthusiastic thumbs up for the facilities, and huge thank you to the people who have worked so hard to create them.
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.