Barrhead Agrena Society president Shannon Carlson says he can’t wait for the new pool to be finished.
“When we started fundraising for this project it had only been 10 years since we had built the arena and the future looks bright for the town and the county of Barrhead,” he said in a speech during the Dive-In Dinner and auction Feb. 11, which netted more than $47,000.
“I had to rewrite my speech a little bit going into the event because a lot of the things I had originally wanted to say had to be updated and some stuff was no longer relevant,” adding he was grateful for the community’s continued support of the project.
“The pool is being built and it is going to be awesome. Seventeen years ago our group fundraised to build the new arena and it is one of the best buildings of its kind in northern Alberta. Two years ago, a similar building was built by the architectural firm that we are using and the price tag for that was $11 million and I guess our biggest failing in building this building is that we should have built it sooner but regardless, we are forging ahead and our facility will give businesses and individuals another good reason to invest in Barrhead.”
Event emcee Steve Lyster agreed.
“We are so happy for every contribution, great or small,” he said, adding it was nice to see the number of clubs, businesses and individuals who have stepped up in spite of the economic climate.
“We [Agrena Society] committed to a contribution goal of $1.5 million and thanks to the hard work and generosity from the people of this community, it appears we are going to reach that goal. I can’t wait for the pool to be done. The first thing I’m going to do is park my butt in that lazy river and treat it like its name,” Carlson said.
