15 years and going strong
Nothing to do in Santa Fe for children and teens? Nonsense. For 15 years, Santa Fesinos young and old have been able to visit the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. There, they can skate, swim, lift weights, play basketball, take yoga or swing dancing, walk the track or jog on a treadmill. It’s the place for community meetings, a voting site come Election Day, a summer camp spot and truly, a magnet that draws in everyone from babies to octagenarians.
This Sunday, there’s a free day of fun to celebrate the anniversary from 9 a.m. to 5:40 p.m. In addition to being able to use the facility for free, discounts for the day also include 15 percent off a 10-visit punch pass and a $40 savings on a Fit for Life Membership. There will even be guided tours, as well as different classes and activities so that strangers to the center (are there many?) can see what is available at this precious community resource.
At the time it opened, the $25 million, 170,000-square-foot-center was believed to be the largest and most comprehensive community center in the Southwest — we’d bet it still ranks among the best. What vision for a small city in New Mexico, to go big and create a center with an National Hockey Leaguestandard ice rink and a swimming pool of Olympic proporations. We should be proud.
Here’s what was said back in 2000 and it remains true today: “There aren’t many communities that would do what Santa Fe has done or have had the courage to try it,” said Joel Leider, vice president of Sports Management Group in Kansas City, Mo.
The center opened for daily use March 1, after two years of construction by 500 workers from 52 companies. During the first two grand opening weekends, in January of 2000, 50,000 people got a sneak peek at the center. From the beginning, the Chavez Center — named after beloved singer and Fiesta regular Genoveva Chavez — has been a much-loved, much-used facility.
Thousands of Santa Fe children never will forget the moment they first used the big slide, or skated without an adult’s guiding hands. There’s the warmth of the sauna, soothing to tired bones, and the camaraderie among the 5:30 a.m. workout gang who are there every morning, lining up as the doors are unlocked. Zumba regulars dance their calories away on a Saturday, and spin class regulars pedal up hills. The offerings are varied and ever changing, so it’s hard to be bored.
There have been issues, of course. Neighbors complained about the bright lights. The roof — always, it seems — continues to leak and the entranceway had to be refigured. Cleanliness, too, is sometimes not what it should be, especially in locker rooms. But those are quibbles in what otherwise has been a rousing success.
Most of all, the center makes fitness accessible to all. It’s relatively inexpensive and has been since it opened. In 2000,
The New Mexican reported, “use of the entire center, including the pool and rink, costs $4 a day for adults, $2.50 for teens and seniors and $2 for children. An annual adult pass costs $325, while a family pass costs $640.” Today admission is $6 for adults, $3 for teens and $1.50 for children. An annual adult pass is only $442. That’s money well spent.
Fifteen years ago, the Genoveva Chavez Community Center opened to much hoopla and great hopes for its potential. Fifteen years later, the south-side rec center is an integral part of Santa Fe. So many people played a part in its creation: the south-side residents who clamored for more services, members of the Santa Fe Skating Club who demanded an ice rink, voters who didn’t mind a tax increase to pay for recreation and city leaders who dreamed big and delivered. The Chavez Center shows government at its best, providing needed and valuable services to the community it serves.
All of Santa Fe should celebrate on Sunday — stop by the Genoveva Chavez Community Center and see what the fuss is about.