GRANTS, N.M. – The Grants Recreation Center, one of the city’s most important indoor recreation spaces for children and families, is closed this week during spring break for cleaning, painting and general cleanup work, a decision that has frustrated some community members.
The closure was publicly announced by the Grants Recreation Department, which posted Monday that the recreation center would be closed for open gym “starting today due to cleaning and trash removal.”
The department said the recreation office remains open during regular business hours for registration. Other offices located at the site – including the City of Grants Special Projects Office, Code Enforcement Office – remain open.
Several community members contacted the Cibola Citizen to express frustration over the timing of the closure, particularly because it comes during spring break, when many children are out of school and families often rely on the facility for recreation. None agreed to be identified publicly.
After checking on the matter, City of Grants Mayor Erik Garcia told the Cibola Citizen by phone and text message that city staff are using the week to address long-delayed upkeep at the facility, formerly known as the Future Foundations Family Center.
“Future foundation has a big project with the employees trying to clean up all offices, painting, cleanup, trying to get it to where we can start renting out a few more places over there,” Garcia said in a text message.
When asked whether the center would remain closed all week, Garcia said yes.
“Yes. Unfortunate for the programs that we have we have to have the staff in place to do them we our place over there has just got so far behind on the cleaning part that it was embarrassing,” Garcia wrote. “We are trying to move forward so we can actually have more programs in our center and for the kids it’s just unfortunate that we had to pick this week, but I guess it was just a decision made but hopefully for the better for the kids not because we’re lazy that’s for sure.”
Garcia said the closure is part of the city’s broader effort to improve the building and expand its future use. His comments indicate the city is trying to bring the facility up to standard while making additional space available for programs or rentals.
Still, the decision has raised questions because of its timing.
For many local families, the recreation center serves as a key place for children to stay active when school is out, making a spring break closure especially noticeable.
The Cibola Citizen contacted City Manager Andrew Valencia seeking an official statement on the closure, the scope of the cleanup effort and when the facility is expected to reopen for open gym. Valencia had not responded by deadline but had a short window to respond.
As of press time, the city had not announced a firm reopening date. In its public notice, the recreation department said it would provide an update when open gym resumes.