Several dignitaries and spectators gathered in the lobby of the Berwick-based recreation facility, home of the Apple Dome Arena, for the official ground-breaking ceremony regarding impending phase two developments Aug. 8.
Lindsay Construction of Dartmouth will take on the $4.24 million project that will include the addition of the Larsen Curling Centre, Willowdale Farm Fitness Centre, Eden Valley Wellness Centre and more dressing rooms.
The Government of Canada and Province of Nova Scotia have each committed $1.6 million to the project, while $1.8 million has been sourced at the local level through municipal contributions and countless volunteer-led fundraisers.
Kings County Mayor Peter Muttart stressed the importance of the municipality getting on board to ensure the region as a whole could benefit from Berwick hosting a topnotch recreation facility.
“We’re one community… all the towns and all the villages and the general community in the County of Kings,” he said, offering remarks at the ground-breaking ceremony.
Muttart noted that the municipal units were able to leverage more funds from the higher levels of government by working together.
“We’re proud to say, as the County of Kings, that we contributed 30 per cent of the amount that the federal government has contributed,” he said, adding that the KMCC is not only a crown for the Town of Berwick.
“This facility is a crown in the municipality.”
Berwick Mayor Don Clarke said the community continues to reap the benefits of the first phase of the KMCC - arena, walking track, Wilson’s Community Centre and Berwick Lions Club - opening in 2010.
“The Town of Berwick has been a bit of a boom town lately and we can kind of trace some of that back to that first phase,” he said, acknowledging the hard-working volunteers tirelessly supported fund-raising events that played a vital role in making the KMCC a reality.
Construction on the phase two series of developments is slated for completion in the spring of 2018.
