by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Senior citizens spent time happily at the new Sartell Community Center the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 4, two days after the center unofficially opened.
An official grand opening is expected to take place sometime in mid-October. The time and date will be announced soon.
Wednesday, some of the seniors played vigorous games of pickle ball on the center’s three gyms. Others played games on the tables of the senior center inside the facility, with bright pools of reflected sunshine streaming through the windows, a view of Lake Francis in the near distance. One senior woman did an oil painting of an old-fashioned ship, its sails filled with wind on an ocean.
“I love the center,” said Delmarie Lamb of Sartell, taking a brief break from pickle ball. And then pushing a thumb into the air, she said with a smile, “It’s number one!”
The $11-million center is a huge place with spacious areas flooded with light and with views of the outside through a myriad of large windows. Inside and outside the rooms, there are nooks with plush chairs in which to relax. There are several long bookshelves lined with donated books; there is a drop-off, pick-up locker system for library materials from the St. Cloud-based Great River Regional Library System; there are very spacious community rooms; the senior center; a kids’ playroom; an elevated walking track and locker rooms.
The new building even smells new, somewhat like a new car.
Wednesday, work crews were putting finishing touches on the facility, such as roll-up shades over the windows on the kids’ playroom and in the Liberty Banks Suites Room.
The walking track can be used free by one and all, through the month of October.
Friends have a fine time playing a game of mahjong in the Sartell Senior Center, which is a part of the new Sartell Community Center. From left to right are Pam Plautz of St. Cloud, and Linda Gaushert, Lynne Willey and Jane Hoffmann, all of Sartell. The four women are very pleased with the new, spacious, light-filled senior center.
Judy Sommers of St. Cloud (right, background) prepares to serve during a game of pickle ball at the new Sartell Community Center. In the foreground is Delmarie Lamb of Sartell, who gave a big thumbs-up for the new center.
The many windows on both levels of the Sartell Community Center help to flood the entire center with sunshine and pools and patches of reflected light. While in the center, visitors have a very keen sense of the interiors interacting with the outside greenery, lake and trails.
Ellie Mullen, building operations manager, welcomes visitors to the new Sartell Community Center on the morning of Oct. 4.
A concessions stand is located in the main hallway of the Sartell Community Center.
The entrance to the St. Cloud Orthopedics Kids’ Zone as seen from the second floor of the Sartell Community Center.
The elevated walking track at the Sartell Senior Center goes all around the center’s three gyms, and on the outside edges of the track there are large windows overlooking the outside grounds.
Ben McLaughlin of Crystal, an employee of Blinds Installation and Repair (also in Crystal) prepares to hang the pieces that will hold roll-up shades on the windows of the Liberty Bank Suites room in the Sartell Community Center.
Stefen Roberts, who hails from Colorado and works for a Minneapolis installer, sets up the library-materials pick-up locker system Wednesday morning, Oct. 4, at the Sartell Community Center.
Shelves of donated books and large mock books as decoration (foreground) are featured in a large reading and all-purpose room of the new Sartell Community Center.
There are plenty of places to take a break and relax in the new Sartell Community Center.
A fireplace and a shelf of donated books could well entice visitors to sit down for awhile in a lounge area of the Sartell Community Center.
One of the many lounge nooks in the Sartell Community Center has an ambience of the outside world and the inside one interacting.
Lake Francis, a holding pond, can be seen from a lounge area and patio of the Sartell Community Center.
The St. Cloud Orthopedic Kid Zone (playroom) will soon have its huge play structure put together. Pieces of it are shown in the photo.
