"When we have a fitness class, a water fitness class, we have sometimes 40 or 50 people in there and it takes up the whole pool and so then the lap swimmers can't swim during those times," Katie Hammer, executive director of the Redmond Area Park and Recreation District, said of the old Cascade Swim Center in remarks The Bulletin included in its opening-day story. "The community's really outgrown (that) space."
The Hub was built to fix that problem. Redmond now has two pools instead of one, which gives the district more room to schedule lap swimmers, families and classes. The district also chose a rule that matters more as the weather turns: drop-in lap swim, open swim, open gym and fitness classes let people in the order they arrive. A $1,248 annual household pass gets you the same place in line as an $8 day ticket. With the turf field still under construction and winter pushing everyone indoors, how well The Hub works for you will come down mostly to when you show up.
Two pools where there used to be one
The Cascade Swim Center next to Redmond High School has been in use since the late 1970s. According to The Bulletin, it was built when Redmond had about 6,000 people. Its replacement sits at SW 35th Street and Lava Avenue. It's a 56,000-square-foot building paid for with the $49 million bond voters narrowly approved in November 2022.
The building has two pools where Cascade had one:
- The lap pool is a 25-meter, eight-lane pool. KTVZ reports it's the same length as the old Cascade pool with two extra lanes.
- The leisure pool has a lazy river, a raised hot tub and a water slide that runs outside the building before coming back in.
Hammer told KTVZ the leisure pool is the feature she's most excited about. "It's something our community doesn't have," she said.
Delays pushed the opening from July to September. Classes and open admission started Thursday, Sept. 17. The official celebration came on Saturday, Oct. 3, with a ribbon cutting and free use of the pool, gym and weight room from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. According to the Redmond Spokesman, Jefferson Greene of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs led a blessing in song at the ribbon cutting.
Cascade Swim Center is closing to the public now that The Hub is open. RAPRD leased it from the Redmond School District, the Source Weekly reported last year. The Bulletin reported that the school district has no plans for the building, and it's unclear whether it will be torn down. That means The Hub is now the only public pool in Redmond, which explains why the entry rules matter as much as they do.
The line at the door has no member lane
RAPRD's page for The Hub explains how drop-in capacity works. Each space has a limit based on safety standards, staff ratios, equipment and room size. Drop-in programs then follow three rules:
- People enter in the order they arrive, whether they pay at the door or hold a pass.
- Once a program is at capacity, staff let more people in only as others leave.
- Members don't get priority in drop-in programs. The district describes membership's benefits as unlimited access and a lower cost per visit.
That's a deliberate choice, and it shapes the whole building. Someone who drives in from outside the district on a Saturday and pays $10.50 gets the same treatment at the door as a neighbor with a year-round household pass. The rule covers the gym too, and that gym is unusual. Sports coordinator Chris Davis told the Spokesman he had just learned that The Hub's open gym basketball courts are the only ones in Central Oregon run by a park and recreation district. He noted that Bend Park and Recreation District's Juniper Swim & Fitness Center and Larkspur Community Center don't have open gyms.
Davis also told the Spokesman that in the center's first two weeks, kids were being dropped off right after school to play basketball. "The whole, 'If you build it, they will come,'" he said. Before Cascade closed, Redmond had two places to swim and no open gym run by the park district. Now one building handles all of it, and none of its drop-in programs take reservations.
What the door costs, and when a pass pays off
Because a pass doesn't move you up the line, the only reason to buy one is money. RAPRD's admission fee page lists separate prices for people who live inside the district boundary and people who live outside it.
| Pass | Adult 16+ | Child 18 mo.–15 | Senior 60+ | Household, up to 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily, in-district | $8.00 | $5.00 | $6.00 | $24.00 |
| Daily, out-of-district | $10.50 | $6.50 | $8.00 | $31.50 |
| 10-visit, in-district | $68.00 | $42.50 | $51.00 | $204.00 |
| 30-day, in-district | $78.00 | $49.00 | $58.00 | $156.00 |
| 12-month, in-district | $624.00 | $390.00 | $468.00 | $1,248.00 |
| 12-month, out-of-district | $811.50 | $507.00 | $608.50 | $1,622.50 |
For an in-district adult, a 30-day pass costs about the same as ten day tickets, so it pays off at roughly the tenth visit in a month. Ten visits a month works out to two or three swims a week. The 10-visit punch card brings the cost to $6.80 a visit and doesn't expire at the end of a month. The 12-month adult pass costs $52 a month, which is two-thirds of the monthly rate.
The household numbers work differently. A family of four with two in-district adults and two kids pays $26 in day tickets, which is more than the $24 household day rate. For families, the household pass is the cheaper option starting with the first visit. RAPRD also sells three-month and six-month passes at prices between the monthly and annual rates.
The hours, and the hours that came before them
RAPRD's current schedule page lists these hours:
- Monday through Friday: 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Sunday: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Entry stops 15 minutes before closing. At opening, both the Bulletin and the Spokesman reported an 8 p.m. weekday close, so the posted weekday evening hour is later than the one announced in September. The district says hours may change based on program needs and attendance. Check the page before planning a late swim.
The district also posts a weekly pool schedule. The one for Oct. 25–31 had recreation swim in both pools from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with lap swim and water walking, swim lessons and water polo filling other blocks. Opening both pools to recreation swim on weekend afternoons tells you when the district expects family crowds. Under the first-come rule, those are also the hours when arriving early helps most.
Registered classes are filling faster than the drop-in floor
Registered classes work differently from drop-in programs. You sign up in advance, and a spot is yours once you're registered. Those spots are going fast. In late October, the RAPRD registration site listed some late-fall classes as already full:
- Kids Cuisine, grades 1–4: Nov. 3–17 and Dec. 1–15, 4 to 5 p.m. Both sessions were full.
- Pasta Making Basics, ages 15+: Nov. 14, 3 to 5 p.m., in The Hub Community Room, $60 for residents and $78 for nonresidents. More sessions run Nov. 22 and Dec. 6.
- Adventures in Cooking, ages 11–15: Nov. 4–25 and Dec. 2–23.
The pool classes look similar. Youth swim lessons run Nov. 30–Dec. 30 on Mondays and Wednesdays for $70 resident or $91 nonresident, and Dec. 1–31 on Tuesdays and Thursdays for $63 or $82. Each 30-minute class starts at 5:00 or 5:35 p.m., and in late October some December sections had only a few seats left. AquaBabies, for ages 6 months to 3 years, and AquaTots, for ages 3 to 6, meet Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m., Nov. 6–20 and Dec. 4–18, for $50 resident or $65 nonresident. The November AquaBabies session was already full. Adults new to the water can try "Get Your Feet Wet: An Introduction to Aquatic Wellness" on Nov. 14 or Dec. 5, 9 to 10 a.m., for $5 resident or $6.50 nonresident.
Outside the pool, the lineup includes Kendo, a traditional Japanese fencing martial art, and springboard diving. The Spokesman reported that basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer and pickleball leagues are planned, plus a futsal run. RAPRD's fitness class page lists Fitness 4 Life, yoga, Qigong and aqua fitness.
The outdoor half arrives last
Part of The Hub isn't finished. Davis told the Spokesman the goal is to complete the turf field, pickleball courts and park area by the end of the year. Once they're done, RAPRD can move its soccer leagues from the High Desert Sports Complex to The Hub.
So during the coldest months, everything happens indoors. The two pools, the gym and the weight room are serving a town that just lost Cascade, and they let people in based on arrival time. By spring, the outdoor courts and field should give people another option.
If you're a Redmond homeowner wondering how a place like The Hub fits into your plans for the next few years, Team Fitch would be glad to talk it through, whether you're staying close to SW 35th and Lava or thinking about a move across Central Oregon. Start Your Search or Book a Consultation whenever you're ready.
