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A massive new gym that opened late last year held its grand opening Wednesday, March 16 and is already giving back to the community.
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Planet Fitness, located at 100 Broadview Drive, held a ribbon cutting ceremony and donated $1,000 to BGC Strathcona County (formerly known as the Boys and Girls Club of Strathcona County).
Mark Towers, director of operations at ECP Planet Fitness, said it is his tradition to donate $1,000 to the local chapter of BGC whenever a new Planet Fitness opens.
“We deal in a judgement free zone and make it comfortable and unintimidating environment, and we want the same thing with what we call a judgement free generation and we’ve donated money or in some cities, older equipment,” Towers said.
BGC was thrilled at the donation and said the money will come in handy.
“Every dollar counts and anything we get adds up and goes towards making things better for the kids, so $1,000 is wonderful,” explained John Dalton, director of children’s programs for BGC Strathcona County. “The money will be used for summer camps. We have a lot of kids that want to come and we’ll use it to sponsor some kids and have equipment and activities going for them to have a great summer.”
Dalton said the club’s camps are very popular and this money will help get more kids involved.
“Our summer camps are already almost full across the board and have extremely long wait lists and we’re looking into options on what we can do to make sure as many kids as possible can get in for summer,” he said.
Dalton said he hopes this just the first of many collaborations and Towers predicts they will be working together a lot.
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“We’re always looking to help the community we come in to,” Towers said.
The new Planet Fitness is one of the biggest in the Edmonton-area, with 28,000 square feet and more than 100 pieces of cardio equipment.
The first few months have been busy already and that to continue.
“It has been very good, great on the uptake, especially with the New Year and the mandates starting to ease up. People are eager to come back into fitness and take care of themselves again,” explained Towers. “We opened the last week in December, so we have been open for a couple of months now. It is a really nice steady pickup and we’re getting out feet wet in the new market. Sherwood Park has welcomed us quite well so far.”
Another popular feature of the new location is the Black Card Spa, which offers tanning beds, hydro massage, massage chairs and total body enhancement, which is all-natural red and infrared light therapy treatment.
“It has been extremely popular and the hydro massage and massage chairs are next level and the tanning beds are salon quality,” the gym director noted.
You can find out more about the new business at planetfitness.ca/gyms/Sherwood-park-ab.
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