After about five years of dreaming and planning, the Central Plumas Recreation and Parks District has opened an indoor recreation center at Serpilio Hall on the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds in Quincy. It is the first of its kind in the area.
Staff are equipping the space with board games and recreational equipment, all to provide adult-supervised after-school fun for kids from 2 to 5 p.m. on school days The center will also offer a full schedule of athletic activities for all ages during the winter months. It features a removable wood laminate floor with markings for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, as well as a new $5,000 scoreboard.
Recreation coordinator Nicole Kochanowski is excited to offer these new opportunities for local youth and families, including video games, board games, cornhole and basketball.
“During weekdays, from 2 to 5, we have ‘open rec’ for kids after school who have nowhere to go, or if parents want to come with them. It provides a safe, controlled place where we always have adult supervision, snacks, water, and games available,” she said.
Kochanowski added that the center also serves a social purpose, affording opportunities to meet other kids and families. As it expands its programs, Kochanowski will lead several activities including youth volleyball.
Jacob Walke, in his role as the center’s recreation supervisor, is responsible for developing programs and activities as well as building the online registration system. CPRPD general manager James Shipp said future program development will be based largely on the talents and interests of these two new employees.
“There was a need for an indoor space when I got here,” said Shipp, who moved to Plumas County in 1990 and took on his current role with CPRPD in 2016. “We wanted some space for kids to do something inside when there was nowhere to go,” referring to the winter months when outdoor recreation can be less practical.
Overcoming lack of funds
A lack of funding was all that stood in the way, according to Shipp. That changed when the recreation district was able to sell part of its property to Plumas Charter School for construction of the PCS Quincy site. The sale raised $170,000. That was not enough to build an indoor recreation facility from the ground up. But Shipp had attended events at Serpilio Hall and the building seemed the ideal size and type to serve the purpose he had in mind.
Shipp learned that the building was used for storage in the winter, generating revenue for the fairgrounds. When he proposed a winter indoor recreation space in the building, Fair Manager John Steffanic and the fair’s board of directors were very supportive, Shipp said. They agreed to a memorandum of understanding that allows CPRPD to use the facility from Nov. 1 to May 1.
Each May, Serpilio Hall will return to the control of the county fair. The basketball hoops will fold into the ceiling, and all the recreation equipment, including the wooden floor, will be placed in storage until the following November.
CPRPD has been using the lower gym at Quincy Junior-Senior High School two hours a day on weekdays and some Saturdays during the winter months, Shipp said. While he expects that collaboration to continue, the new Serpilio Hall recreation space will help free up the QJSHS facility, making it more available to school-based programs. Plumas Charter School will bring some of its after-school programs into the space as well.
The center offers many other activities to community members, including pickleball, youth wrestling, seated yoga, and roller skating. Schedules and registration information for all activities are available online.
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