Made In Walker
The Made In Walker Podcast connects you to the people, stories, and ideas shaping our community. From local innovators to everyday change makers, we are diving deep into what makes Walker Michigan a great place to live, work, and grow.
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Made In Walker
Walker Ice and Fitness Center: Where Health Meets Community
Step inside one of Walker's most vibrant community hubs with Mary Kay Sherman, Facilities Director at the Walker Ice and Fitness Center. Having served since six months after the center opened more than 25 years ago, Mary Kay offers an insider's perspective on how this multi-purpose facility has evolved from a new building with a memorable Gordie Howe ribbon-cutting into the pulsing heart of community connection.
The conversation reveals how the center combines fitness facilities, an ice rink, and parks and recreation operations to serve over 3,600 members—an all-time high that surpasses pre-pandemic numbers. What makes this place truly special isn't just the equipment or classes, but the intergenerational connections that form naturally within its walls. Seniors find both physical activity and vital social networks, checking on each other when someone misses a few days and participating enthusiastically in walking clubs and fitness classes targeted to their needs. Meanwhile, younger members benefit from certified personal trainers, recreational sports, and the opportunity to interact with diverse age groups in a supportive environment.
Beyond exercise, the Walker Ice and Fitness Center has become a focal point for community giving through blood drives, a "Little Free Food Pantry," Veterans Drive support, and Toys for Tots collections. The facility hosts major city events from the massively popular Easter Egg Hunt to the festive Winterfest celebration that Mary Kay identifies as her personal favorite. Through pandemic closures and reopenings, changing community needs, and years of service, the center continues to thrive thanks to dedicated staff—some serving 15-20+ years—and strong support from city management and commissioners. Looking for a place to improve your health while building lasting connections? Visit the Walker Ice and Fitness Center and experience firsthand what makes this community treasure so special. Share your own experiences with the center or suggest future podcast topics by emailing podcast@walkercity.com.
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects you to the people, the stories and the ideas shaping our community, from local innovators to everyday changemakers. We're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work and grow. Here's your host, nicole DiDonato.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for joining us today. We're taking you inside one of the most active hubs in the city of Walker. The Walker Ice and Fitness Center is not just filled with treadmills and weights. It's actually a place for community connection and for lifelong health. And I am here with our facilities director, Mary Kay Sherman. Thank you so much for being part of this today. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me today. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2:And you've been with the Walker Ice and Fitness Center since its inception, since it opened over 25 years ago. Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:I started at the Ice and Fitness Center about six months after it opened and has been there ever since, so it's a great place to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and one of the cool things about the ribbon cutting when it was opened is we actually had Gordie Howe appear, didn't we?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, he was there, yes, yep, and he signed autographs. He had left us a big picture and memorabilia of him that is still hanging in the facility today.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, you can see it right when you walk in the lobby. Yes, it right when you walk in the lobby. Yes, very cool. And so what was it like, just knowing you're coming into this brand new facility, what all lies ahead? Did you ever see what it would kind of be, what it is now, today?
Speaker 3:I didn't I, you know started there. I was at the front desk for the longest time and I just loved seeing how the community kept coming in though, and we have been busy ever since and with the teams they're ever-changing the parent-run organizations from Hawk, the members we've had members there for 25 years. It's so great to talk to them when they come in. So I just love to see the generations coming in again.
Speaker 2:So it's great. Yeah, and the Walker Ice and Fitness Center is very unique. We have a fitness center, we have an ice rink, and then we have our parks and recs operations out of that as well, so there's always something going on.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's a great place to gather we have, and I think every community needs that is a good place to gather, and that is what the Walker Ice and Fitness Center has become. Whether you want to get healthy in the gym or if you want to join a team, you can do hockey, you can do join the soccer team. For the kids, adult softball we have just a great place. You can come learn how to skate. We have meeting rooms that we rent out where we host birthday parties and showers, and graduation parties are big right now. So it's just a great place for the community to get together, yeah that's a lot for you to handle, isn't it it?
Speaker 3:is Well, it's just a fun place to be and to see people socialize and to make lifelong friends. I've seen that happen too. We have a lot of lifelong friends in the gym. They watch out for each other, they, you know it's really neat.
Speaker 2:And another cool thing about the Eisen Fitness Center is that we have a really large senior community that takes advantage of that and for a generation or an age group where sometimes, if you, you know, happen to lose contact with friends or you feel more isolated, it can actually be detrimental to your health. But here not only do they get the exercise, but that community you are correct.
Speaker 3:They come in and, like I said, they make friends and they socialize, and that is so good for your mental health, and we have classes that they participate in. So not only are they there to socialize, but they're there also to get healthy. We have personal trainers that can help them out if they have certain goals that they want to reach or if they may be rehabbing a surgery or just want to get a little bit healthier. So our seniors just love our classes. We have an indoor track, which is really nice. Some seniors just want to come in and just get out of the cold or come into the air conditioning, so they'll come in and walk the track and, before you know it, they're making friends and they're very committed and they're every day.
Speaker 2:They are, yes, yeah, and it's very intergenerational too. You know, you'll be working out next to like a 20-something with a 60-year-old or so, and everyone's interacting and encouraging each other.
Speaker 3:It is, and they look out for each other. I will have people come to me and say, hey, have you seen Bob lately? I haven't seen him in about a week and I'll be like you know what? We've got to reach out and see what's going on. So we just kind keep track of each other and, um, yeah, it's really really neat a great family and, like you said, we have the younger kids too that come in and right now our student um, with college coming to an end, they'll come, start coming back in and stuff too. So it'll be good to see them.
Speaker 2:And yeah, yes, and what is one thing that you think people may not realize about the ice and fitness center?
Speaker 3:um, you know, because we are a place to gather, we have um kind of created opportunities that people can give back to. So, um, recently we have the little free food pantry that we started, and that was that has been really popular. So people can bring in um non-perishable items on toiletries to donate to this. We just have a little cubby where you donate them to and then people can come in if there's a need and help themselves, no questions asked. So that has been really neat for the community. We hold blood drives. We have quarterly blood drives every year, so that's a great way. The Recreation Department hosts a Veterans Drive so we give back there where the toiletries and the snacks and stuff for the veterans, toys for Tots we're a drop-off zone for that, so we like that. We always have a huge donation of toys for them to come pick up every year, so it's a really good place to be able to and try and make sure that when they're coming in, they can also give back just a little bit. Yeah, that's a great pairing there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's something going on there is there is. And, of course, the pandemic was in the middle of all of this. What was that like going through the pandemic and not being able to see your members and that for so, so long.
Speaker 3:Yes, it was, it was so back and forth Are we opening, Are we not opening? So it was a stressful time and to see how they were ready to come back. As soon as we got the okay to open, even though there was mask restrictions and space restrictions, they still came back. And even our senior population came back. They said we just missed coming in and being active. And so that was great that the city stood behind us and still reopened our building and seen the need to keep people active in the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very much, because it's such a community hub. I know attendance for a while. It took a while to kind of build that back up, but it seems like you have more attendance than pre-COVID now.
Speaker 3:Yes, we are at an all-time high, like over 3,600 members currently, and that is fantastic. We have never been at this amount of numbers and check-ins are increasing every month and they're still up there and so this is fantastic. It really speaks to our staff that we have we have some really great classes. We have some really great instructors yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:And if there's any confusion out there, because it says Walker Ice and Fitness Center and it is city-owned, it's not just for Walker residents, right, correct?
Speaker 3:yes, you do not have to be a citizen of Walker to use the place. It's a paid-to-use facility. We also participate with you talked about our seniors but we participate with the insurance-based programs of Silver Sneakers, silver and fit. We have a new one pass program that we participate with. So all those programs that provide our seniors with a free free to them memberships through their insurance, which is really nice, and all they have to do is come in.
Speaker 3:We can help them look that up to see if they're eligible and then they're welcome to come on in. But that is a big part of our base too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it is. I know we're talking a lot about seniors, but it is just so neat to see. You know you hope that every community has a place where seniors feel that they can come, and this is just one way. You have walking clubs during the summer where they can kind of you know it's themed, maybe it's crazy hat day, you know what? Not, they are characters.
Speaker 3:They are so fun to be around, they are so involved, and then they get committed and, like I said, watch out for each other. But yeah, the walking club is coming up this summer and we will have 40 or 50 participants of that and they will start out in the lobby and they do it just a quick warm up and then they go outside and walk in the park. In the lobby and they do it just a quick warm up and then they go outside and walk in the park. They go out sometimes, even if it's raining a little bit, you know, and they like to go outside and get that fresh air and if not, we walk inside on the track. Yeah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 2:And the personal trainers too. They do know how to work with all types of varying abilities, especially with seniors. So you know, very much trained in that age group, All of our trainers are certified.
Speaker 3:So, we have make sure that they can do their jobs and they do them well. And they are quite busy right now, but there's always room for more training sessions Wonderful.
Speaker 3:And what is one memory out of your 25 years or so that may stick out, or you know a few things that could possibly stick out for you. Well, I am a big Christmas fan, so I love our Winterfest. So when we light up the building for Christmas, I absolutely love that. And then we decorate all insides, we have the bulbs up, the trees up, and people that come in are just like, wow, this is so nice, the building looks so great and we touch so many people not only all of our gym members, but also all the people coming in for hockey, for open skate. The public that comes in, they just love to come in, and so it's been. That's my favorite time, that's my favorite memories are the.
Speaker 3:Winterfest, when they come up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that when we get out the inflatables. I know you're always excited about that and you bring up a point too as well, that we use the Walker Ice and Fitness Center for some of our city events. Like our very popular Walker Ice and Fitness Center, the Easter egg hunt that just passed in spring brings out several thousand people.
Speaker 3:Wasn't that a great event this year. The weather was perfect and everybody just came out. Those eggs were picked up in record time. I think, yeah, we always joke.
Speaker 2:You know it starts at 11, done by 11.03. But people are still. They come way before and they stay way after, interacting with police and fire and everything.
Speaker 3:That's one thing for our events. I don't think we've ever had an event that wasn't well attended, you know, it's just they love to come out for those and our volunteers and all of our departments work together to put that on and it's very impressive, yeah, and it speaks, you know, to the volumes.
Speaker 3:Volumes to the parks and rec, the folks who kind of head that up, um to you partnering with the ice and fitness center you guys put on memorial, excuse me, the memorial day parade is the next big event on um, so if anybody is interested in getting getting a group together to be in the parade, contact the rec department and we're hoping for good weather that day and to do the plane flyover and all the things down Remembrance Road this year.
Speaker 2:And you know kind of in closing, what's really kept you motivated in your position with the Eisen Fitness Center.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I have a really great job. I really do, but I can't do it without my staff and I really enjoy working with my staff and I really like my staff and I've had some of them with me 5, 10, 15, even 20 years that have been by my side working to make sure that we have a great facility for all of our members, our hockey parents, and so I can't do it without them, and also the city management has been so supportive, the city commission has been so supportive of our facility and so to make sure that we have a good, clean, well-kept building for everybody to continue to come for years and years, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And if you can't already tell Mary Kay's passion as she's talking I mean you can see that at the Ice and Fitness Center.
Speaker 3:Well, like I said, I just love never. There's not a day that's the same. It's always different. You're always going to meet somebody new. You're always going to be, yeah, taking care of just different things. It's always different. You're always going to meet somebody new, You're always going to be taking care of different things, it's just fun.
Speaker 2:You have a great job. Yes, mary Kay, we are so appreciative of what you all do, especially for our senior community and for Walker and beyond. Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it, and thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Maiden Walker podcast. If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us an email at podcast at walkercity. Maiden Walker is the official podcast of the city of Walker, Michigan. You can find Maiden Walker wherever you get your podcasts.
