(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Open house

City of Humboldt hosting Community Facility Open House

May 8, 2025 | 4:00 PM

The City of Humboldt is looking for more input and guidance on a potential arts, sports, and wellness facility.

Discussions have been taking place for months, and the City is hosting an open house Tuesday, May 13 at 7 pm at the Uniplex Convention Centre Meeting Rooms, as they hope to have the input turn into action.

Director of Community and Leisure Services Michael Ulriksen told northeastNOW they would like the community to come out to the open house. He said they’ve had dozens of conversations with user groups to determine the needs across the community.

“Things like a second ice surface, a theatre space, a field house,” said Ulriksen. “A number of general sports, culture, wellness, and arts-type of facilities to meet a broad range of needs and wants within our community.”

The city sent in a grant application for a larger facility, which included a second ice surface and a tribute space for the 2017-18 Humboldt Broncos memorial items, but it was unsuccessful. Ulriksen said the city has been stalled in trying to determine the next step going forward.

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“We’ve kind of hit a wall as far as who’s going to take the lead and who’s going to kind of run with that,” Ulriksen explained. “The open house largely, at its focus, is going to be essentially a community-wide call to action.” The purpose is to form a diverse, regional Steering Committee that will take the vision of these many user groups and make it a reality.

Ulriksen said it’s important to determine what meets the area’s needs now but also into the future. He added this step is the city, in some ways, handing the discussion back to the community.

“We want to hand this back, and we want a group to…run with that, take the ball and run with that information, and see where we end up.”

Ulriksen said Humboldt is a small city and can’t afford to have a separate facility for every need and every organization, and it’s vital to come up with a multi-use facility that serves a number of needs within the community. Having a building that is adaptable and can be added onto in the future is also a key, according to Ulriksen.

Coming up with a plan of action is just one step, as Ulriksen said, the funding for the project still needs to be found, and that can be tricky. However, for now, the city is looking for residents who are heavily invested in Humboldt’s future and passionate about seeing progress in the community.

All of Humboldt’s indoor recreation space is located at Centennial Park, including the Uniplex, which is now over 40 years old. Ulriksen said building a facility at that site is one option, but the city is keeping an open mind as to where a multi-purpose building could be constructed.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com