The latest report from North Battleford鈥檚 Parks and Recreation department confirms what everyone already knows by now: attendance at leisure services facilities is way down from last year.
Year to year numbers from February were provided at Monday鈥檚 meeting of city council, comparing this year鈥檚 numbers to February 2020, which was the last month before pandemic restrictions came in:
Aquatic centre 3,240, down from 10,763 pre-pandemic; the Field House 2,578, down from 8,521; arenas 3,595, down from 11,439; galleries 217, down from 508; and Don Ross Centre 525, down from 1,899.
What was remarkable was that the numbers were down pretty much identically across all facilities.
鈥淣umbers are about a third of what they were the previous year before COVID-19 in almost every one of our facilities,鈥� said City Manager Randy Patrick.
Director of Parks and Recreation Cheryl DeNeire said the numbers are running slightly ahead of what they had budgeted for. They had predicted 25 per cent.
On a related note regarding recreation facilities, there was some good news to report. Councillor Kelli Hawtin reported that SaskLotteries community funding came through to allow the purchase of adult fitness equipment for the city. This was an item that had been discussed during budget deliberations.
听
