City facility re-opening dates announced

The City of Swift Current’s Community Services Division wishes to advise residents and user groups that it has established Opening Dates for a few of its recreation/culture facilities that have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hockey and Skating

The City will be delaying the opening of a second ice surface – the Innovation Credit Union i-plex – until October 1st. This facility was originally planned to be opened on September 8th; however, a handful of factors caused the City to re-evaluate plans, including:

- Uncertainty of guaranteed revenue due to COVID-19 restrictions and Saskatchewan Health Authority Back to Play protocols;

- The Swift Current Broncos’ league schedule has been delayed until December, with training camp pushed back to no earlier than November;

- Midget Triple AAA teams predict their schedule will start following the October long weekend.

“We will now operate a single arena – Fairview West – until October 1st, and we estimate that this will save us approximately $90,000 in operating costs for the month of September,” said Jim Jones, the City’s General Manager of Community Services. “With limitations being set by the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the parent provincial and national sport governing bodies, it has been difficult for local sporting groups to determine what their seasons will look like. Ultimately, safety and guaranteed ice usage by our not-for-profit user groups is paramount to the operation of our City Recreation Facilities.”

Aquatic Centre and Fairview Pool

The opening of the Aquatic Centre will be delayed by two weeks, with the new opening date scheduled for September 22nd. As a result, Fairview Pool will remain open for an additional two weeks to ensure users do not miss out on swimming opportunities.

The Aquatic Centre delay stems from the uncertainty of full slates of public/ school swimming lessons in October and reduced hours of use by the community’s swim clubs.

Swift Current Museum

The Swift Current Museum re-opened to the public on August 24th. Hours of operation will be Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At this time, only self-guided viewing of the temporary and main galleries will be available, while all education programs, meetings, events, receptions and guided programming will be on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions.

For a full picture of the Swift Current Museum’s Re-opening Plan, please visit http://www.swiftcurrent.ca/divisions/ community-services/culture/swift-current-museum/about-the-museum/reopening-plan.

“Community Services will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely in our region, and provide updates to the general public as they become available,” said Jones. “First and foremost, we want to thank all of our valued patrons for their patience and understanding as we navigate through this process, and to ensure them that our priority is their health and safety while visiting our facilities.” and Chad Dafoe of Swift Current, a girl, August 30.

STICKLER -

born to Ashlee and Kenton Stickler of Herbert, a girl, August 28.

KEENLEYSIDE -

born to Brittany and Ryan Keenleyside of Swift Current, a boy, August 28.

PENNER -

born to Courtney and Shamus Penner of Swift Current, a girl, August 22.