Party time: GymKyds turns 25

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This article was published 22/08/2025 (217 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a summer of milestones for Peggy Glassco.

Friends and family fêted the Winnipeg entrepreneur on her 60th birthday at the end of July. Today, she’s celebrating the 25th anniversary of her Southdale-based business: GymKyds Gymnastics Centre.

“It honestly doesn’t feel like 25 years,” Glassco said. “It’s just gone so fast.”

The former Winnipeg Blue Bombers cheerleader started her business in a racquetball centre on Taylor Avenue in 2000, offering children aged one through 12 the opportunity to learn gymnastics in a non-competitive environment.

The business now occupies a 5,000-square-foot building at the corner of Beaverhill Boulevard and Bluewater Crescent. Around 1,000 children participate in GymKyds programs at the facility and a few satellite locations.

Glassco is inviting the community to celebrate a quarter-century of flips, tumbles and vaults at a free party she’s throwing this afternoon at 421 Beaverhill Blvd.

The celebration takes place from noon until 4:00 p.m. and will include bouncy castles and hot dogs, chips and drinks. “We have really great support in this community — in the whole city, really, because people come from all over,” Glassco said. “I just wanted to throw a big party.”

Dance, gymnastics and cheerleading were a part of Glassco’s upbringing in her hometown of Brazil, Ind., located about an hour southwest of Indianapolis. At 18, she moved to Winnipeg, where her mother was born and raised, to pursue a degree in recreation studies at the University of Manitoba.

Glassco spent three years with the Blue Bombers cheer team starting in the mid-1980s, including stints as captain and choreographer, and then worked for the federal government in northern Manitoba. By the late 1990s, she was back in Winnipeg, teaching gymnastics at various community clubs.

Eventually, Glassco said, a few parents encouraged her to open her own permanent location. It was a logical step for someone who enjoys being her own boss.

“I don’t consider it work when I come here; it’s my life,” she said. “I think if you ever count your hours, you’re in the wrong place.”

The business offers a variety of programs, including classes where children aged one to three can experience a mix of structured and free play, socialize with others their age, build motor skills and burn off energy.

There are a variety of classes available to children as they grow older, including some that cover gymnastics fundamentals and one that offers obstacle course-inspired training.

GymKyds also offers programs every Wednesday at a satellite location in St. James and every Friday at a location in West St. Paul.

Additionally, the business operates two vans that deliver mobile gymnastics programs at day camps and private homes throughout the city. GymKyds also travels regularly to northern Manitoba to bring gymnastics to children in a variety of communities.

To pull it all off, Glassco employs 50 people.

Beyond gymnastics, she said she and her employees are passionate about giving back. They organize a number of events annually that have raised around $50,000 for the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba, CancerCare Manitoba and the Christmas Cheer Board.

“We’ve been in business so long (and) it’s time to give back,” she said. “I love organizing events, so this lets me do something I love to do.”

Julie Pleskach has enrolled her children, Isla and Rowan, in GymKyds classes for a decade. The Sage Creek resident speaks highly of Glassco and her team.

“(GymKyds) has been an extremely special part of our family’s life because it’s such a wonderful place,” Pleskach said.

She added being at GymKyds allowed her children to learn new skills and challenge their abilities with the support of welcoming and knowledgeable coaches.

“It’s truly remarkable that it’s been (open for) 25 years,” Pleskach said. “I’m so proud my kids got to be part of at least 10 of those 25 years.”

Glassco, who the Women Business Owners of Manitoba named female entrepreneur of the year in 2021, said she often thinks about opening a second location that would combine a dance studio and a gymnastics centre.

“I’m always looking for new opportunities,” she said.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca