Ask your Apple Dome questions

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Folks behind the Apple Dome really want people to know what they’re up to - and where the proposed sports and community facility stands.

A public meeting was stormed out in December, so the January 31 session at the Berwick school, 7 p.m., will be a chance “for people to come in and get brought up to date - the background and the current status,” says Hal Baird.

Baird was hired in November to “pull all the pieces together” on behalf of Apple Dome volunteers, who have been meeting for at least six years to design a building, fundraise and pin down government support.

“The committee wanted someone who could be aware or everything and stay on top of it all - I’m working on the Apple Dome on a day-to-day basis,” Baird says. “The committee members have been very generous with their time over the years, and we need to keep the project moving.”

Baird was brought in in early 2007 to push Windsor’s outdoor aquatic facility through its last stages: the pool opened in late summer, after years of community work.

“Can we get it done here?” Baird asks. “I sure hope so.”

Firming up federal government funding is Baird’s “high priority,” as nothing firm has been offered in answer to the Apple Dome’s campaign to fund the facility in thirds. The community has generated over $3 million, and the province has pledged over $2 million. Berwick and the Municipality of Kings are also in.

Still, those two-third partnerships won’t be enough to meet the project’s total cost of $16 million. Baird says the design’s phased approach is its best feature now: first to be built will be the arena, followed by a community hall, outdoor pool, fitness room, four-sheet curling surface and library - if and when it’s decided they are needed and affordable.

“I’m hearing it’s been ‘a long time,’ that people haven’t been working hard - but that’s not the case. I have a fresh perspective and can see all the positives - it shouldn’t be lost this is a major sports, recreation and community complex for citizens of Berwick and the area, the region and the Valley as a whole. It’s going to be important in securing regional and even national events.”

Baird is also the new chairman of AVESTA, the non-profit Annapolis Valley Event and Sport Tourism Association formed out of the failed co-operative Valley 2011 Canada Games bid.

“The committee’s goal at this point is: work begins in the spring of 2008,” Baird says. “This public meeting will be a chance for us to draw a line in the sand for people.”