Photo: Gagandeep Ghuman
By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: March 15, 2014
It can easily be mistaken as an outdoors art installation, an expressionist piece of art you are supposed to admire from a distance.
But wait, this isn’t high-falutin art: This is your humble, unknown and unused, outdoor gym in the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada.
You don’t go to this gym; you stumble upon this hidden gem behind the Brennan Park Recreation Centre.
And if you are indeed looking for it, let serendipty be your guide: There are no directions to this gym anywhere, no signs pointing this way or that, no guidebooks with chiseled bodies inviting you to use it.
But if you are still intent on using this gym, do yourself a favour: download the instructions at home for there are none at the outdoor gym, just steel stuck in timeless solitude.
The district doesn’t track the usage of this outdoor gym installed in 2012, as it doesn’t for any other district playground or park in general.
“We currently do not use the fitness park as a component in our programs,” said Christina Moore.
Budgets are a time of intense financial pressure, so it can be safely assumed it wasn’t budget time when the decision was made to put an outdoor gym in Squamish, one of the rainiest regions in Canada.
Citizens may not have stretched their muscle on it, but the same can’t be said about your wallet.
Records show the district spent a total of $48,789 on this outdoor gym, which has 10 outdoor fitness workstations, everything to make your chest arms and leg stronger.
The money was found from the reserves, a saving account our finance department keeps reminding us needs more cash.
It remains unclear why district would go to the extent of dipping into its savings account for an outdoor gym.
Coun. Bryan Raiser hopes more press coverage will lead to more users. He uses it occasionally.
“I used to use it more before the kids were in school and hang out with them,” he said.
At one point, he did receive a note of thanks from someone who had used it for rehab.
A member of the Squamish Youth Soccer, Rob Weys, said he doesn’t recall seeing a player using the outdoor gym for warm up, etc, before the game.
“They only people that use it are small kids. My kids play on it sometimes,” he said.
As for the indoor fitness centre at the Brennan Park, plans have been scaled back due to the budget constraints.
Sarah Murphy says
A cool concept for a park – good on brennan park for including something unique and free as a part of their facilities. My guess is it is not in use right now because its the middle of Winter! Come spring and baseball season, when half the town is at the park, it will be seeing a little more action.
Bridey Payne says
I think it was a waste of taxpayer money.
“Squamish is one of the wettest inhabited locations in Canada, with nearly 2,400 millimetres (94 in) of rainfall per year, often falling in long stretches through the winter. ” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish,_British_Columbia
I know very few people that want to train outside on days like these. $47K would have been a nice chunk of money to buy indoor sports equipment. Personally, I’m very disappointed that plans for an indoor fitness centre have been scaled back this year. There are so many athletic people in Squamish, an indoor fitness facility (like that at Meadown park in Whistler), is much needed. Even the best of athletes don’t want to train in the wet and cold.