As a member of the media, I had a different CUPlex experience from most people. I attended many, many cheque presentations and fundraisers, and saw the facilities in various stages of construction. For me, the CUPlex was a cold place where you had to wear a hard hat and steel-toed boots.
It was also somewhere one had to constantly exercise one's imagination. On early tours, all the participants were constantly checking the blueprints to try to imagine what the facilities would look like. Oh, there's going to be a running track here. This pile of pipes will eventually sit under the hot tub, these tiles will eventually cover the whole floor.
Of course, the CUPlex, as attendance numbers from September indicate, is very real, and very well attended. I finally decided to attend it myself one night recently. As I pulled up to the full parking lot, I saw skateboarders in the central square. As I entered the change rooms, I saw another interesting sight - a man in a wheelchair about to go for a swim. It's something one doesn't often see in swimming pools, because of course most swimming pools aren't built with accessibility in mind. All the components of the CUPlex, however, were, and it was wonderful in its own way to see the very human results of that decision.
As I explored the rest of the now-finished aquatics complex, I saw more. Gaggles of teenagers, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters and even the elderly were all out enjoying the facility in their own way.
After I had finished relaxing in the hot tub, I showered, changed and went to the newly completed curling centre for a beer and a snack. Even late at night the rink was buzzing with activity, with games on every sheet and the bar out of Original 16. Even though its grand opening was still a week away, the facility already seemed well-used, an important part of the community.
Leaving, with my bag slung across my back, I saw a steady stream of audience members pouring out of the Dekker Centre, which was shining like a jewel in the night.
Back in my car, I remembered driving down the road to the CUPlex for tours, a steel-toed boot on the gas pedal. I remembered how absurd the stop sign near the parking lot had seemed, and how outrageously large the parking lot had looked when all the tour participants pulled up.
Now, the parking lot felt almost small, the stop sign looked essential.
Of course, all components of the CUPlex will have their own issues down the road, and their operating costs are essentially anyone's guess. But right now, the CUPlex is wonderful, as a community gathering place, a tourist draw, a place to hang out. And on a dark, almost moonless night like last Thursday, each building shines like a jewel on velvet.
