The hot tub in the Central Alberta city is reopening after a four-year hiatus

ZONDRE – For the first time since the pandemic, Sundre Aquaplex customers once again have the opportunity to enjoy a hot tub.

“It’s surreal,” said Kari McQuaid, indoor pool and fitness center manager, about finally completing the project after so many years in the making.

“It was missed so much, every day.”

The hot tub was closed alongside so many other facilities during the public health measures introduced in March 2020 and ultimately remained off-limits even as restrictions were slowly but surely eased and eventually lifted completely.

“The entire facility was closed during COVID, and prior to that there were some questions about the safety of the hot tub,” McQuaid said, adding that the Sundre & District Aquatic Society, which manages the operation of the Aquaplex, had coordinated. with Alberta Health to ensure compliance with modernized codes.

“Due to the latest standards that came into play, (Alberta Health) did not allow us to reopen the hot tub after the COVID-19 closure,” she said.

And it wasn’t just local customers who regularly inquired at the front desk when the hot tub would reopen, she said, adding that there are many visitors passing through town who also enjoy using the facility.

“We were blessed to be pretty busy during all of this,” she said, referring to the pool and fitness center that remained available even amid the restrictions in place at the time.

“We had a lot of people who still appreciated all the other things we had to offer, but there were definitely people who were waiting to come back until that hot tub reopened,” she said.

Although there was a soft opening for the hot tub on April 5, McQuaid said the more official announcement came the next day.

“I’ve seen a lot of happy people in the hot tub,” she said.

“Everyone participates; whether it is the swimmers, whether it is the children from swimming lessons or the people from the fitness center who just want to go in after (a training). Everyone loves it for the stress relief and reward.”

There were several variables preventing faster completion of the project, starting with Alberta Health having its hands full earlier at the onset of the pandemic, resulting in delays in approving the pool’s proposals.

Then the need arose not only for engineers, but also for contractors.

“It was all a wait-and-see situation,” she said, adding that the work depended on their availability.

“A lot of contractors didn’t even want to look at the work because it was small and remote, and they’re busy in the cities building bigger things,” she said.

The job itself, while not large in scale, was still a specialized task that required not only the skill of working with cement but also expertise in plumbing for the drainage system, she said.

“And a lot of people could do one or the other, but not do the whole job,” she said.

Regardless, she said that ultimately, largely due to “the great people we have on our board of directors,” the aquatic society triumphed over Murphy’s Law.

A quote for the project was about $98,500 plus VAT, but McQuaid rounded the total cost to $100,000 thanks to a volunteer who became the general contractor overseeing the work.