A huge void is being filled with the conversion of the old curling rink into a community hall by the Cochrane Lions Club.

Effective today, May 1, the Lions Club has entered into a lease with the town to operate the building and already have received a calvacade of inquiries for rentals.

Its a win-win situation for the club and community and Lions members are excited to help make it possible.

"We believe it's a great thing because the town has very few  places to have an event for over 120 people," says Lions president Darren Begg. "You're restricted to really big money or no place that's big enough. So we're hoping to fill that hole and generate money to give back to the community."

Repairs and minor renovations have now begun and the club plans to make the hall available for use as soon as possible. They've already received a number of inquiries to host events, says Lion Kevin Furkus.

"There's been huge amounts of interest, once they found out it was happening," says Furkus. "We have a boxing group that's looking at holding a fundraiser here, we have a dart league looking at holding a tournament here, we've got markets and this and that who are already chatting with us." 

Suzanne Gaida, the town's senior manager of community services, says they have been discussing the idea of the Lions for about a year. Having the building remain open also relieves the town of the cost of maintenance and the potential of vandalism, a common problem with empty buildings.

"We approached them to ask if they were interested in taking it on so that they can use it as a community centre for the rodeo and other activities until such time as we either take it down or created a new cultural hub," says Gaida.

"Initially we have just attached it to the original lease for the Lions rodeo grounds. and it's still 2019. So we'll talk about renewing it, based upon what happens to this site," says Gaida. "There's nothing in our 10-year financlal plan for a community cultural hub so we'll wait and see what council's direction is on that, but it's good to have a community space being used on the site until as such time as that happens."

In the meantime, the club, too, will continue to determine what the future holds for the rodeo grounds and the building.

“In the long term we are hoping to make this a community hub” says Demeo.

The curling rink was built  in 1979-80, estimates Gaida, and  at 11,000 sq ft. has a variety of rooms to accommodate anything up to 500 people. It includes meeting rooms, one of which is currently used by the Lions, who were one of the leading fundraisers for its construction.

You can watch for hall updates here. You can also email rental inquiries to info@cochranelionsclub.com.