Recreation Department Readies For Youth Center Grand Opening, Hundreds Have Already Signed Up

More than 400 township youths have taken out free memberships in the township Youth Center, with the facility’s grand opening just days away.

That was the word on May 11 from Beau Byrtus, the director of Parks and Recreation, during the monthly meeting of the Advisory Recreation Council.

Byrtus said department and center staff are spending May 12 and 13 cleaning the center and making sure everything is how it should be for the May 14 grand opening.

The grand opening celebration is scheduled to run from noon to 8 p.m., with a variety of activities throughout the building, Byrtus said.

“It’s geared towards getting kids in to see what we have going on,” he said. “Each of the rooms throughout the facility will have different activities, so we have Franklin Fit will be in there doing some stuff, SCAP will be in there, we’re doing a podcast, we have dance, we’ll have a DJ, we’ll have food. It should be really, really good.”

Byrtus said that 428 kids have signed up for memberships, and that between 50 and 60 kids are “consistently” showing up at the center.

He said that teh center opened up early during the school district’s Spring break, and that kids were lined up at the door then, too.

“We didn’t know what we were going to get, but we had a ton of kids show up early, they were waiting at the doors, so that’s awesome,” he said.

One of the facility’s major attractions, the game room, is ready to go, Byrtus said.

“We have two X-Boxes, two PlayStation 5s and a Nintendo Switch, which is a hot commodity right now,” he said.

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