New recreation centre opens in Martensville Saskatchewan

After more than a decade of planning, fundraising, and construction, Martensville's new state-of-the-art recreation centre is finally opening its doors to the public, and the city is celebrating the achievement.

"By the looks on people's faces, you can tell they are pretty excited. Then you see the facility—it's pretty overwhelming. You realize this is actually an incredible accomplishment," Mayor Kent Muench said.

The facility boasts a hockey arena, a miniature skating rink, a lounge, and a food court, as well as a rock climbing wall. However, it isn't entirely complete yet, as an indoor soccer pitch is still under construction and expected to be finished by January.

"On the fieldhouse side, we'll have a full-sized indoor soccer pitch that will be split into four. We will be hosting soccer, football, baseball, softball, lacrosse. It truly is a community facility," said Roxane Melnyk, director of recreation for the City of Martensville.

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The journey to this point was long, with years of networking and partnerships to fundraise for the project.

"The city created a recreation master plan. It surveyed the residents, asked what things we needed. We took that list and dreamed really big. We thought, here's our destination, here's what we're gonna do. It just started from there, and we just went out and met with people. We got letters of support from nearly 50 organizations, communities, Indigenous groups," said Muench.

Looking ahead, the facility plans future expansions, including more ice sheets to ease the pressure on both Saskatoon and Martensville's sports leagues.

The centre is already open, with kids enjoying the rock climbing walls and minor hockey kicking off at 7 p.m. tonight. The City of Martensville is encouraging residents to come out and experience the new facility.