Facility bookings surging beyond expectations | DrumhellerMail

Facility bookings surging beyond expectations

 

Residents or groups hoping to book their event at the Badlands Community Facility might want to act fast. Like the fitness centre, room bookings at the facility have surged beyond initial hopes.

 

The rooms at The Badlands Community Facility are filling up fast. Weddings, conferences, annual general meetings, sports clubs, and more are rapidly booking the remaining time of the facility.

People are already booking events for 2014 and 2013 is filling up fast.

“It’s a positive feeling,” said Heather Little, marketing and events officer for the Badlands Community Facility. “The weekends are filling up and even during the week the smaller rooms are filling up.”

In the few short months the facility has been open it has hosted a few high profile events including the Elks conference, Drumheller & District Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting, Canadian Badlands conference, and Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith used the facility during her campaign. More events are continually being booked.

A variety of events are taking advantage of the new building, including meetings, weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, conferences, and reunions. In the field house, several sporting groups are meeting regularly, such as lacrosse and the Salvation Army Floor Hocky League.

“Anything people can think of we will see if we can make it work in the building,” said Little.

There are a couple events the facility is hoping to attract. Music concerts and sports tournaments are high on the list.

“We don’t have a lot of concerts booked yet, but what we have is a great start. Concerts are definitely something we’re looking to have more of. We had a heavy metal concert recently. It proved how good the dividers in the banquet hall were. If you were in the far room, you couldn’t hear a thing,” said Little.

One of the visions when building the facility was to bring in large tournaments in the field house and they would use the banquet hall for socials or dinners.

“We haven’t had a lot of tournaments so far. It’s really an area where community groups can get involved. At this point, we haven’t started aggressively going after those tournaments, but there is potential,” said Little.

Those wishing to book a room can check the availability online at www.dinosaurvalley.com. Bookings must be done through staff, who are willing to make things work.

“The whole building is being utilized,” said Little. “We’re looking forward to getting creative in the future.”