Waynesville Rec pulls out all the stops to court members post-pandemic

Oct. 5—The Waynesville Recreation Center is on a mission to win back the public after memberships and attendance plummeted during COVID.

Daily visitation to the rec center is still half of what it was prior to 2020, averaging around 215 people a day compared to 450 before COVID.

The sharp decline has taken a toll on revenue and become a drain on Waynesville's budget. Recreation revenue collected by the town during the four months from May-August dropped from $247,000 in 2019 to only $21,000 in 2020, followed by $124,000 in 2021 and $150,000 in 2022.

"It is steadily starting to climb, but it's been slow going to get there," said Luke Kinsland, interim director of Waynesville Parks and Rec. "It took everybody awhile to get comfortable to go back to doing anything. Some seniors still don't want to risk it."

Part of the problem, however, is that people got out of the habit of going to the gym and have continued to recreate and exercise outdoors.

"During the pandemic, people could only go outside. We saw a huge surge in people using the parks and greenways, and that's continued to this day," Kinsland said.

With the arrival of cooler winter months and the pandemic finally waning, Kinsland believes the rec center is finally poised for a comeback — but he's not leaving it to chance.

"We are trying to bring in new ideas and new energy by looking at the demands in the community and seeing how we can meet them. Our goal is to see the rec center as busy as possible," Kinsland said Kinsland, who assumed the role of interim director in May.

The strategy even included a complete pressure washing of the building and trimming the trees out front to make it more visible.

"We want to make the building look a little more appealing, so when people can see it from the road, they'll think 'Wow, look at that place. Let's go check it out,'" Kinsland said. "Not many towns our size have a rec center of this caliber."

The rec center has always been subsidized by tax payers, but that's been even more so since the pandemic. During the last fiscal year, the town brought in $350,000 in revenue compared to $2.25 million in recreation spending. That includes care and upkeep of the many town parks, not just rec center operations, however.

Meanwhile, the rec center has been shoring up its fitness class offerings, including hiring two new fitness instructors and the addition of yoga classes.

"We got asked all the time about yoga, so there was a demand for it," Kinsland said.

The rec center also launched an afterschool program this year for elementary and middle school students, which has proven successful.

"After school programming was in really high demand. It has been a big hit," Kinsland said.

The summer Basecamp program also started back up after a two-year hiatus, and senior fieldtrips and outings will be coming back, as well.

Unfortunately, a severe lifeguard shortage has limited pool hours to weekdays and closed the kids waterpark entirely. That means the rec center is missing out on families coming to the pool on the weekends to rent out pool parties.

Rentals of outside picnic shelters across all the town parks will soon be easier for the public to book, thanks to the launch of an online rental and payment system being set up — another set that could help increase revenue if the public can more easily book them.

Aside from attracting members, Kinsland and his crew are doing their best to court as many sports rec leagues as possible to lease fields and gyms for practices and games. Shining Rock charter school now plays soccer on the rec center fields, for example, as do four other soccer clubs.

"We want to put more emphasis in youth programming and youth sports," Kinsland said "We want to know what youth sports are missing in the community and try to make those leagues happen."

Believing that every little bit counts, Kinsland is tapping a program that provides free admission to anyone on United Healthcare insurance. The town gets reimbursed by United for the visits, similar to the Silver Sneakers program for health insurance providers like Aetna or Anthem.

The rec center also plans to hold special events, from outdoors movies on the lawn to holiday activities.