No matter if you are 80 or 90 years old, 20 or 30 years old or somewhere in between, no doubt there is a period of time that you consider “the good old days” when things were better than they are today. Am I wrong?
For some of us it’s about the time we are young and free from responsibility and arthritus. For others it’s about life being more black and white, a more simple time. If you ask ten different people “What was so good about the good old days?” you will most likely get ten different answers.
All of these things have been on the minds of young and old, and many who fall in between the two, as the Devils Lake Community looks at its needs, hopes and dreams. The question was, “How can we improve life in Devils Lake for all of us?” As the city looked at its future in both the long and short run.
A community committee was formed including representation from the Devils Lake Park District, the City of Devils Lake, Lake Region State College, Ramsey County, Child Care, a representative of the seniors in our communiity, a representative of the farm community and a representative of the health care community. I understand the youth were also included in this visioning.
As a result, this committee came up with as many potential programming ideas as they could come up with and looked at both current and future facilities in the city that could potentially house some sort of Devils Lake Family Entertainment Center.
They selected a building to begin with; the former Leevers Foods South, located in what is known as “The Intersection of Appreciation” on U.S. highway 2 where monuments stand to the four pillars of the Lake Region: Agriculture, Tourism, The Spirit Lake Nation and Camp Gilbert C. Grafton.
Then they determined of all the needs, hopes and dreams of all the people surveyed the top seven results were: #1 a movie theater, #2 a walking track, #3 bowling lanes, #4 an indoor playground, #5 HD Multi-sport simulators, #6 Pickleball and #7 Community rooms for birthdays and meetings, etc.
A great deal of work has gone into this project already, although little physical work has begun. Plans have been drawn up and I can tell you that it IS going ahead, even if it’s not as quickly as some of us would like it to be. A recent article that was published in the Grand Forks Herald newspaper outlined some of what this project is about, but left out the movie theater planned for the complex. That was the number one wish for nearly everyone surveyed, so it was important to find out where this stood in the plans, now.
This reporter was assured that the movie theater continues to be a very important part of the plans for the Devils Lake Activity Center. We here at the Devils Lake Journal will continue to give updates on progress being made in the community, like this activity center. If you know of something that is planned and would like to share it with us here at the DLJ, we would gladly look into it and report on what is happening. Call my cell number 230-2651 or e-mail me at loleson@cmpapers.com
