Zing! The ribbon is cut by Mayor Ted Clugston to officially re-open the Police Point Park Interpretive centre after two years of ongoing renovations and upgrades. The centre has remained open throughout, but a ceremony on Friday morning declared the $800,000 project complete.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
After two years of construction, the upgrades to the Police Point Park interpretive centre are complete – and if you hadn’t been paying attention, or seen the previous incarnation, you’d think it was a brand new 37-year-old building.
“We chuckle that its a grand re-opening but we never closed,” said Corlaine Gardner, the park’s chief interpreter. “All the dust and noise along the way has been worth it.”
Officials gathered Friday to declare the project complete and show off the building that has no new major wing, or ostentatious architectural feature.
The changes however, comprise a long to-do list at the building that hadn’t seen much work since it first opened in the early 1980s.
A host of grants and fundraising paid for the $900,000 work that brought modern tile, fresh paint, new reception, revamped theatre, better gallery space, but also power sockets that work, and new audio visual equipment, a new washroom, more storage, a level floor in the theatre, and on and on.
“It really gives a new energy to the space and the people who work here,” said lead interpreter Marty Druit.
Glass doors, operating windows, a change of colours scheme and floor tile from dark to light generally lighten up the space.
The changes have opened up the space inside and opened up the inside to the outside.
Grasslands naturalists president Hugh Armstrong said the building was built to standards of the time of its 1982 construction, but over the years fell well behind the times.
The renovation began when the Medicine Hat Accommodation Association approached the parks department about a potential legacy project, and a refurbishment of the centre’s gallery was suggested.
After that $270,000 donation in hand, the Grassland Naturalists set about seeking matching grants. Along with $150,000 from South Country Co-op, several provincial grants and a federal accessibility grant led to a expansion of the work and a tripling of the original budget to $900,000.
“It really just grew, and grew and grew and kept growing,” said Maureen Mudry, the manager of parks planning with the city.
About $200,000 came from the city’s building maintenance budget.
“It’s a perfect example of collaboration,” said Armstrong. “Between non-profit, municipal, provincial and federal governments and businesses, we got the project done right.”
Work south of the centre this summer will see the pathway restored along the South Saskatchewan River beneath the Medicine Hat Golf and Country club, where new sewer lines were installed last year.
