Durango Community Recreation Center flexed a record number of users in 2019 before COVID-19 crashed in and deflated visitation by nearly two-thirds. In 2025, the recreation center has nearly regained its pace.
Recreation Center Manager John Robinette said the recreation center, which is open seven days a week, has about 1,100 users daily.
The recreation center had nearly 374,000 annual visitors in 2019, according to Parks and Recreation data. The pandemic dragged visitation down to about 144,000 annual visitors over the course of 2020. The recreation center’s comeback was evident last year with approximately 366,000 total visitors in 2024.
Assistant Recreation Director Kelli Jaycox said spin and fitness classes are so popular the recreation center can’t fit everyone into the studio, spotlighting the need for more studio space. Waitlists are typically a given for Gametime, a youth recreation and licensed child care service, although new outdoor programs have been added this year along with staff increases to better serve the kids enrolled and keep up with demand.
Robinette said the gymnasium is ever popular, with pickleball players on the court seven days a week.
The outdoor pickleball courts at Schneider Park help to alleviate demand for the gymnasium during the summertime, although with basketball, volleyball and pickleball, the indoor courts are always in high demand, Jaycox said. Local sports leagues make use of school gyms because the recreation center gym is difficult to schedule games around.
SilverSneakers, Renew Active and Silver & Fit are other popular fitness programs at the recreation center. They are offered to senior citizens at no cost via certain Medicare plans.
“That is a big draw,” she said. “It’s such a great camaraderie, and that’s such an important thing for people as they age, to stay very social. It’s a great workout geared specifically to them.”
The biggest draw for residents and visitors to Durango alike is the indoor aquatics area, Robinette said. The swimming pool is one of the few available in town.
He said he gets a lot of questions from people wondering when the city’s going to build an outdoor pool, but the swim beach at Lake Nighthorse serves that purpose well. People also ask when a second recreation facility might be built.
On the heels of peak visitation, the recreation center’s return to form coincides nicely with the Parks and Recreation Department’s development of a new master plan. The plan is budgeted for 2026 and will incorporate resident feedback to plot the path toward new amenities and improvements.
One amenity besides the recreation center that is likely to get attention from residents is the Chapman Hill Ice Rink. Hockey and figure skating fans in Durango and Bayfield have already called on the city to consider improvements to the existing rink or, better yet, build one or more new rinks.
Jaycox said the current master plan laid out options for additional recreation facilities, including the option to add onto the current recreation center. Another option is to build a second facility with a different focus. It could be a field house, an outdoor pool or another outdoor space.
That comes with challenges, however. She said building a brand new recreation center will probably require funding via a bond or a tax that voters will approve or reject at the ballot box.
The current recreation center opened in 2002 and had a relatively easy time getting backing from the community, she said. Residents were interested in having a recreation center and so the city performed a feasibility study. The study resulted in a green light to take the issue to ballot.
She added that it helped that the recreation center and the Animas River Trail were the only items on the ballot.
Jaycox said Parks and Recreation will perform a community survey next year when work begins on the new master plan. That will be a significant opportunity for residents to make their voices heard.
cburney@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story overstated the number of daily visitors to the Durango Community Recreation Center in one instance. It receives about 1,100 daily visitors, not 11,000 visitors. The story had the correct figure in other instances. The story also misspelled recreation center Manager John Robinette’s last name.
