Almost 20,000 people have visited the Soldotna Field House since the facility opened last summer. That’s per data from Soldotna’s Parks and Recreation Department, which briefed city council members on almost a year of operations. The data doesn’t quite cover 12 months because the field house opened two months into Soldotna’s fiscal year.
Joel Todd is Soldotna’s parks and recreation director. He says early budget numbers show the facility brought in more money – and cost less to run – than expected.
“Revenue was a lot higher than we expected,” he said. “We kind of thought we were going to get about 290 based on some make believe guesses, and we did significantly better.”
In all, the city counted almost 90,000 field house visits by 19,000 unique visitors – mostly from the Kenai Peninsula, but from other parts of Alaska, too.
About 42% of visitors used the elevated walking track, which department staff say is the facility’s most popular component. Some of that is due to a free senior walking program sponsored by Central Peninsula Hospital, which lets seniors use the walking track for free from 7 a.m. to noon. The city says more than 1,300 seniors have signed up for that program as of June.
Staff say visitors and groups are taking advantage of the facility’s versatility.
Hundreds of people registered for indoor soccer and flag football. High school sports, clubs and individuals have rented more than 14,000 hours worth of court time. And more than 16,000 people have attended special events at the building, like Project Homeless Connect, the Kenai River Classic Roundtable and the Alaska Republican Convention.
Field house staff say they’ve used surveys and a suggestion box as a sort-of report card. Visitors wish there was a restroom on the second floor. And seniors don’t like driving in the dark to use the free walking track.
Emily Heale is the city’s field house coordinator. She says she tracks suggestions in a spreadsheet, and says city staff already implemented some of them, like adding benches along the walking track and expanding military discounts to household members.
“We can’t implement all the suggestions, right?” she said. “If we did, we would have a pool, we would also have turf all year round, but also pickleball all year round.”
Field house staff say they want to streamline the building’s check-in process, bring more statewide tournaments and camps to the facility and add bike racks outside.
Dave Carey was one of multiple council members who says the success and popularity of the field house has exceeded their expectations.
“The field house has become, in my opinion, this bright lighthouse of activity, of friendship, of recreation,” he said. “There are people who are enthused because each day they get to go to the field house.”
Parks and Recreation staff say they’re already trying to schedule tournaments for four and five years in the future, and are in talks with other community groups interested in using the field house.
The Soldotna Field House is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. An interactive schedule of field house activities is available on the city’s website.
