Blackfoot Community Center has a new name under new ownership

Treydon Baylor, EastIdahoNews.com

The Blackfoot Rec Center’s main room | Treydon Baylor

BLACKFOOT — The Blackfoot Community Center, now renamed the Blackfoot Rec Center, has come under new ownership and they’re hoping to revitalize the building.

Brittin Winn and her husband bought it after the previous owners were going to walk away, leaving the building to rot. Wyn didn’t want the building to be abandoned and leave Blackfoot without a community center, so she was inspired to take on the challenge.

“We had a facility like this growing up that I kind of grew up in, and so I thought it would be really fun for my kids to have that same experience,” said Winn.

In addition to bringing life back to the building, which is old and in a state of disrepair, Wyn is hoping to bring new activities and programs to the Blackfoot Rec Center.

“What I’m most excited for is the rock climbing wall and laser tag, because of the little kid in me. But I think the biggest community need that I’ve heard over and over again is a space to come and be,” said Winn. “This will be my project, getting these rooms going.”

Wyn also hopes to build spaces at the Rec Center for community events.

The previous Blackfoot Community Center had so many programs that most of the space wasn’t open to the public. Winn says this left little room for other things and she wants to change that.

So far, the biggest issue Winn and her husband have faced trying to get the Rec Center up and running is the costs. They are trying to get sponsors, but without them, they’ve been limited.

“Overhead costs a lot on this place, so we’re just really trying to focus on getting things functional and getting people excited to get in here so we can keep improving it,” said Winn.

Despite being a for-profit business, Winn wants to keep the cost of entry for the programs low. As of now, they only intend to charge $5 to enter the facility, with additional fees for classes and programs they’d like to start.

Winn is trying to get adult programs like Zumba or Arial Yoga started at the facility, along with a preschool/daycare for parents to drop their children off at while they attend these programs. There have also been talks about doing things like Ju-Jitsu classes.

“We really want it all. I want our calendars to be filled every month and we’re willing to work with people to make it happen,” said Winn.

At the end of the day though, Winn wants the facilities and its programs to be affordable.

“We’re trying to keep prices low because we understand times are hard for everybody. We just want to do our part and we don’t really care about making a huge profit,” Winn explained. “We plan on taking everything we make for the next year or two and just putting it back into the facility and into equipment and programs so that we can have nice things for our community.”

The Blackfoot Rec Center’s doors are already open to the public, but as Wyn and her husband continue to make repairs, patrons are restricted to the main gym. Winn hopes to change that as soon as possible.