Community Cheers Reopening

By Jose Paul Corona, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Sep. 17–It was cold, cloudy and drizzly on Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone inside the Marshall Center.

People inside the newly remodeled community center were busy inspecting the building, taking a dip in the pool or showing off their moves in the new dance studio. The rain wasn’t what they were thinking about.

“I’m just so pleased … I could cry,” said Kristina Robson.

“I grew up with this place,” the Vancouver native said.

Robson said she took swimming lessons at the Marshall Center as a girl.

“I used to walk two miles to get here,” she added.

But this center looks nothing like the one Robson grew up with.

This Marshall Center was unveiled Sunday after an $8.45 million face-lift. The renovation added 10,000 square feet to the 1960s-era building, which was closed last fall for the remodeling.

The center now boasts a cardio and weight room, an aerobics and dance studio, a lounge area for teens, a game room and a studio for arts and crafts.

George Robson, Kristina Robson’s husband, felt the update was needed.

“It’s just so alive,” he said. “Before, it felt like a fossil.”

It has a much better vibe now, he said, and the east Vancouver resident said that he plans to spend a lot more time at the Marshall Center now.

The family has been going to the Firstenburg Community Center, which is a great facility, he said, but very crowded at times. Maybe things will be less busy at the Marshall Center. “Until the buzz is out,” he added.

A short distance away, Amber Schiefelbein, 26, monitored the pool’s new slide. The Vancouver native took swimming lessons at the center, and now she’s teaching children to swim.

The center’s deep pool is perfect for swimming lessons, she said. Most of the other local pools are only 4 feet deep, so while kids learn how to swim in them, their strokes aren’t as good, she said.

Michael Liu, 6, took swimming lessons at the pool before it was shut down for remodeling, but he was playing air hockey on Sunday afternoon.

The Vancouver boy faced off against his father, Zhengkun Liu. He raised his arm in triumph after scoring a goal.

After that he moved on to the foosball table. Other kids quickly replaced him at the air hockey table.

The Marshall Center is at 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd. in Vancouver. For information call 360-487-7100.

Jose Paul Corona can be reached at 360-759-8038 or jose.corona@columbian.com

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

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