New Mayfair Recreation Centre will fill gap in community

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/11/2013 (2711 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you are passing by the River and Donald intersection you will see a new structure coming to life that is very exciting for the community in the Mayfair area!

After years of pulling together funding, gathering public input and planning, a brand new community centre is taking shape. This important addition to the community will help fill a gap where more resources are needed and will be enjoyed by people who have waited a long time for this to happen.

The new 3,600-square-foot Mayfair Recreation Centre will be fully accessible and have a Manitoba Hydro Power Smart Designation. Its unique design is by the Winnipeg firm BridgmanCollaborative Architecture.

The Mayfair neighbourhood is a densely-populated area on the eastern edge of Osborne Village, surrounded by Donald Street, Stradbrook Avenue, Main Street and the river. It is one of the lowest-income neighbourhoods in the city and is home to a community with a diverse range of cultural backgrounds and languages.

You may remember the "shack" (as the former skate change building was known) just north of Donald that had served to the best of its ability as a very small and inadequate community space. Even with such limited space, people made the best of it, offering activities and supports for the programming needs of the Mayfair neighbourhood. The old 1,500-square-foot "shack" was demolished in the summer of 2013 to make way for the new building.

The city and province are jointly funding this community improvement project as part of the second phase of the Building Communities Initiative II program among other funding sources.

The Mayfair Recreation Centre will be a welcoming hub of activity, providing daily intergenerational activities and programing for all ages, preschool to seniors. The multi-programmable space will accommodate a variety of programs from active games to educational seminars, and will continue to house the biweekly Harvest program in the Mayfair community.

It has been a challenge in this area to support recreational and social activities for neighbourhood residents of all ages without a proper facility in place. This recreation centre should help address this need by providing a welcome and excellent resource for the community.

I’m pleased to share with you that this new recreation facility is scheduled to open in summer/fall 2014. The dream of a beautiful and functional space for community activities in the Mayfair area will soon become a reality.