Thanks to hot weather and increased use of senior recreation programs, the Fruita Community Center reported record attendance for four consecutive months.
Marc Mancuso, director of Fruita Parks and Recreation, said the community center typically sees more use during the summer months due to warm weather and children being off school, but this year the increase was even more noticeable than in previous years.
“Last year we had 18,644 visits in June,” Mancuso said. “In 2024 we had 22,031 visits, so that’s almost 4,000 more visits in June alone.”
Mancuso said Fruita’s pools are its biggest draw – there is both an indoor and outdoor pool. He said they’ve heard from guests checking out their facility because they’re worried other pool facilities in the valley might close.
“We’re a little scared about the closure of Orchard Mesa Pool and some other closures in the valley,” Mancuso said. “We’ve heard that from a lot of people who were planning to visit our pools over the summer.”
He said the crowds at Lincoln Park-Moyer Pool, which was closed this week because of a water leak, are also causing some families to flock to the comparatively less crowded Fruita pools.
People also come to escape the heat with other activities offered by the Fruita Community Center, Mancuso said.
“The main thing is that people want to get out of the heat and come to the recreation center,” Mancuso said. “We have a lot of people playing indoor pickleball, a lot of people playing basketball, and a lot of people stopping by on a whim.”
A major factor in this year’s increase is older users, Mancuso said. He said Fruita has seen a big increase in the number of seniors using the SilverSneakers, Active and Fit and Renew Active programs through their health insurance.
“We’ve seen about a 30% increase in our senior population compared to the same period last year,” Mancuso said. “We’re getting a lot more retirees taking advantage of these insurance programs that allow them to have recreation passes. So we’re seeing a huge increase there.”
Fruita has added several additional programs, some of which are also aimed at seniors, which could lead to additional users, Mancuso said.
“We’ve started new programs,” Mancuso said. “We’ve started pickleball lessons. We’re offering fencing lessons. We have different programs that we add throughout the year for seniors… different social events and things like that in the senior area.”
In total, the Fruita Community Center had more than 131,000 visits through the end of July this year. That’s more than 12,000 more visits than the same period in 2023.
As Grand Junction begins construction on its new recreation center, Mancuso said Fruita expects the facility to see less use when it opens in 2026. But he said that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“With these record numbers, there is a little more wait time on the treadmills or on the fitness equipment,” Mancuso said. “There might be swim lanes that someone is waiting for until one opens up. We’re starting to see capacity in some of our different areas.
“I think the new (Grand Junction) recreation center will help relieve some of that pressure. I don’t think we need to serve as many people all the time. I think it will help us.”
Fruita, however, is not worried about the Grand Junction recreation center taking in too many of its visitors. Mancuso said many of the facility’s visitors are from Fruita. He said they are also planning some improvements to the facility that could also draw people.
“We’re getting a new water slide here at the end of September,” Mancuso said. “I think that will definitely attract more people. I think we’ll see increased usage because of this new amenity.”
Overall, Mancuso said he is happy that the Fruita Community Center is available to community members who want to use it.
“We’re just happy that we can help so many people and help with so many different programs, whether it’s swim lessons or therapeutic classes,” Mancuso said. “It’s really great to see how many people use our facility for different reasons.”
