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Campbellton - There’s good news coming out of the Campbellton Regional Memorial Civic Centre.

Trevor McNally/ Tribune

The Campbellton Fire Brigade’s aerial truck was called to the Campbellton Regional Memorial Civic Centre March 18 to help clear snow from the roof, which like many area buildings had suffered some damage as a result of the storms this winter. But things are definitely going well on the inside of the building, with usage up.

General Manager Rick Ladouceur said last week that users filled the centre during the March Break and hopes are they will continue to pour into the facility over the next couple of months, before it’s shut down for the summer.

Ladouceur said that attendance in various camps was high, but nowhere as near as high as the pool.

“We had more than 900 people use the pool during the March Break,” said Ladouceur March 18, the week after the mid-winter holiday. “It was great to see so many families, parents with their kids, come to the centre to enjoy what we have to offer.”

He said that the weekly “teen swim” on Friday evening was also well attended, with more than 50 teens coming to the pool for the two-hour get-together.

“It’s good for the centre and for the people of Campbellton, that so many people are using the pool, as well as taking advantage of the other programs that are available here. For example, we have, on average, 40 women taking part in our boxercise program every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.”

Ladouceur said that since Christmas, many organizations have been using the conference room for meetings and others have booked some for the spring.

As well, there are 12 weddings booked for the next couple of months which will also generate much-needed revenue for the Civic Centre.

He said one of the busiest weekends for the facility in a number of the months was the recent Molson Oldtimers Tournament which drew 28 teams. Ladouceur said it’s hoped that many people will sign up for the first-ever Family Fun Tournament the first weekend in April.

“It’s just for fun but we would love to see as many teams sign up as possible,” he said.

As for the closure, the Civic Centre won’t be offering any programs from May to September, but it will remain open for special events, such as a monster truck show on May 1, a wrestling card, a circus in June, as well as some of the events of Salmon Festival.

Ladouceur said he has joined the Salmon Festival Committee and has been promoting the Civic Centre in area schools.

“We’re still working hard at getting as many people in the building as possible.

We aren’t looking forward to the closure this summer, but we’ll keep working until then, and just as hard when we reopen in the fall.”