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GREENFIELD — New features of the Adair County Health and Fitness Center will be on display in an open house from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Free admission to the public is offered all day to use the facility and check out the new features, according to Ken Sidey, the center’s director.
Also on Saturday, the one-time $25 joining fee will be waived for all new memberships, and those new members will receive one month free.
Free fitness classes (see page 2A), a tae kwon do demonstration, free popcorn and various door prizes are included in the open house.
Door prizes include fitness class cards, fitness gear, a six-month membership and a personal training session.
The center, located at 202 N. Townline Road, will also be one of two Greenfield starting points for the “Start Somewhere” walk at noon Friday. Local walkers participating in Gov. Terry Branstad’s healthiest state initiative will begin at the southwest corner of the fitness center parking lot, and follow “Wanda’s Walking Path” around the Purdy Sports Complex.
New rooms
A new fitness classroom and a room restored to a youth game room are highlights of the new look at the fitness center.
“We started with a decision last spring to close the daycare that we had in here,” Sidey explained. “We had infant and preschool daycare and an after-school program for grade-school age kids. For several reasons, we decided to close that, so that opened up two rooms.”
Both rooms, measuring about 30 by 30 feet, have been converted into new uses to benefit members.
The room across from the front desk is being developed as a youth lounge, which was the original purpose of the room when the facility opened in 2002 as a branch of Southern Prairie YMCA.
“That will be ready in its basic form by Saturday’s open house,” Sidey said. “We’ll have a ping pong table in there. We have a TV and the Wii games. Adults taking fitness classes can drop off their kids in there, so that’s a service feature for members. With the window (walls) we can see them in there and keep an eye on things.”
To the south of the service desk is the room formerly used for after-school programming. Now it’s been made into a fitness-class facility, including stationary bikes for spinning classes.
“We put a new laminate floor in there,” Sidey said. “It has a little cushion to it, so it’s good for aerobics classes. We’ll use that for aerobics, Zumba (Latin dance aerobics), spinning and yoga classes. We also have a 10-week body boot-camp session that’s been popular.
“We have been having our classes out in the gym, or at the end of the dining room where they have congregate meals,” Sidey continued. “So, we would have to move the tables aside for the class and then put it back in order.”
Denise Kuhns teaches most of the aerobic and spinning classes. Lisa Schneider teaches “power yoga,” and Cassie Warner leads Zumba classes.
“Zumba is a dance aerobics class that has really gotten popular,” Sidey said.
The facility also includes a basketball/volleyball court, walking track, racquetball court, weight-lifting area and fitness room including treadmills, elliptical trainers, stepper machines and television. Sidey said Cardinal Glass has donated new reflective glass panels in the weight-training area, and mirrors will also be added to the new fitness class room.
“We’ve painted and freshened up the place a little, too,” said Sidey, director for the past two years. “We hope a lot of folks stop in Saturday and see what we’ve done with the place.”
Saturday’s schedule (all classes free):
Open house — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Spinning class (indoor cycling) — 8 a.m.
Power yoga — 9 a.m.
Zumba (Latin dance aerobics) — 10 a.m.
Tae kwon do demonstration — 11:30 a.m.