Recreation facilities
Our new Community Centre
In May of 2005 the Town Office, the R.M. Office, the Library and the Recreation Director/Manager Office moved into the beautiful new Community Centre.
The Community Centre is connected to the Big River Arena with a breezeway into the Curling Lobby. The centre has a large foyer, coatroom, meeting Room and large hall with an impressive stage that has a dressing room and a bathroom with steps on each side.
There is also a small hall, which will eventually be separated with a folding divider wall. There is a very large kitchen with six dish sinks, a vegetable sink, convection ovens, gas grill/oven with six burners and two ovens. There is an upright freezer and two coolers.
There is a designated fitness room with two showers, sharing a bathroom with the kitchen. Funding for equipment needs to be obtained. We have held many functions in the new centre and are very proud of this facility. For booking information please call 469 2606.
Phone numbers for the Community Centre:
- Recreation Office: 469 2606
- Meeting Room: 469 2609
- Bar: 469 2607
- Kitchen: 469 2607
Recreation Centre
The Big River Recreation Centre was built in 1982. The facility is located in the center of town. The building consists of a three sheet curling rink and lounge, a skating rink ice surface, canteen, five dressing rooms, referee’s room, maintenance and storage rooms, lobby areas with seating in the curling and arena areas, bleachers in the skating arena and a sound room and Arena Attendants’ office. The Big River and District Recreation and Cultural Board (the Rec Board) is responsible for the day-to day operations of the facility.
We put our ice in for the end of September. Our Minor Sports Teams start a Conditioning Camp in October and children from many surrounding communities register for this camp. As we are the only Arena in the area with artificial ice many of the surrounding communities book ice here until they are able to get their ice in. We are pleased to provide ice time to Debden, Big River First Nation Minor Sports and Senior Men’s Teams and other teams as well.
The Braves (our Senior Men’s Team) start up in November and play against surrounding communities. The Elementary and High Schools also utilize the rink for their phys ed classes. We also have 2 Girls Broomball Teams and 2 Boys Broomball Teams and they travel all over Saskatchewan for Tournaments. The Arena is a busy place in the winter. We also have private rentals available. Please call (306) 469-2606 to book the Arena or for further information.
The Rec Board is also responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Curling Rink and Lounge. The Lounge is open for all of the Senior and Junior games, Curling Nights and Curling Bonspiels. There are varied hours this year. Call (306) 469-2606 for booking of the Curling Rink.
For the last seven years the Rec Board has run a Summer Day Camp in conjunction with the Interagency Committee. This extremely successful program is available at no cost to parents and is open to all school aged children. The Day Camp staff work with approx 30 kids per day. They have sports days, theme days, make arts and crafts and are offered a nutritional snack and drink each day. The staff holds a fun day wind up and holds a barbeque and provide Astro Jump trampolines for the children to play in. This camp also employs four students for the summer months.
There are three Ball Diamonds located at the Recreation Centre Site and are used throughout the spring, summer and fall. Call (306) 469-2606 to book the ball diamonds.
The Regional Park is located to the east of the Recreation Centre and has many camping sites available as well as laundry and shower facilities. Camping spots may be booked by calling (306) 469-2232 from May to September. We employ another three students for the summer months with the Regional Park. There are also serviced sites at Cowan Lake with a fish filleting shack, bathrooms and camp kitchen. The fishing on Cowan Lake is fantastic and we draw fisherman from many places until the end of October.
We run a swimming program at Nesslin Lake for nine days. We usually register around 100 children for this program and employ two instructors. Again, it is a very successful program.