The green gym outside Prince Rupert’s Civic Centre has been removed indefinitely after an inspection revealed that the playground required maintenance and care “beyond the capacity of city staff.”
The city said that the original supplier is no longer in operation and no other suppliers were willing to take up the task of preserving the equipment “for their own liability reasons.”
Given that the equipment provided at the outdoor gym was seldom used, the city decided to remove it with no intentions of building a new workout area anytime soon.
The outdoor gym was a few months short of reaching its tenth anniversary. It was originally opened to encourage Rupertites to integrate more fitness into their everyday lives.
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While some exercise enthusiast might be disappointed with the decision to close the gym, some parents on social media are saying good riddance.
The equipment was reportedly unsafe causing one kid to get their finger jammed in the machines. Some people also questioned why the wettest city in Canada would open a gym outside where it would be prone to rusting.
The Civic Centre’s outdoor gym is not the only one in the city with bad luck. In 2016, School District 52 received a $5,000 grant from Northern Health’s IMAGINE grant program to put toward new outdoor exercise equipment project next to Roosevelt Park Elementary School. Unfortunately, they had to abandon the project after the realization that the land did not officially belong to them and that too many hurdles stood in the way.
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