By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Forty years of recreational activities and sports at Sprinker Recreation Center will be celebrated July 30 with a sampling of all of them. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., a $4 all-access pass will allow the public to check out open skating, ice hockey and broomball on the ice rink. Beginner tennis lessons, games and match play will take place on the tennis courts. And the skate park will be the scene of Skate Jam, with prizes for the top skateboarding competitors. In addition, balcony seating will be available for $12 per person to attend the Summer Nights ice show at 7:30 p.m. The performance will feature special guests Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, along with local skaters. The 40th anniversary celebration comes on the heels of an announcement earlier this year by Pierce County that the venerable recreation facility it operates in Spanaway experienced record-breaking attendance and revenue in 2015. Officials said Sprinker has experienced growth across the board since 2010. All revenue from ice skating increased by 30 percent and public skating attendance rose by 29 percent. Youth and adult ice hockey participation grew by 68 percent, and attendance at figure skating competitions increased by 31 percent. For all of last year, the facility earned $944,369, a 13 percent increase since 2010. "The success we experienced in 2015 is directly related to the newly renovated ice rink,GÇ¥ said Tony Tipton, the director of the county's Parks and Recreation Department. "Thanks to the county-funded improvements, we can now offer more quality programs to meet the needs of our community.GÇ¥ The ice rink was threatened with closure in 2010 because of deteriorating conditions of the facility, including a leaking roof. It was restored in a $6.1 million upgrade, paid chiefly with funds from the county's real estate excise tax that's dedicated to parks. Since then, the Parks and Recreation Department has expanded classes and activities at Sprinker. The ice rink is part of the Sprinker complex, which gets its name from the late Harry Sprinker, a former county commissioner who championed parks projects. It includes indoor tennis and racquetball courts, outdoor ballfields, and meeting rooms. In 2013, Sprinker hosted he Northwest Pacific Regional U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The six-day competition involved 319 skaters from Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Montana.. Of those, 105 vied for a spot in the Pacific Coast Sectional Championships in a step toward possible Olympic dreams. Regionals and sectionals that year led to the national championships in Boston, Mass., the final qualifier before the selection of the 2014 U.S. Olympic team.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment