\u201cThe dynamics of the YMCA is changing. It\u2019s no longer a men\u2019s social club,\u201d said Amy Hampton, executive director of the Tyrone Area YMCA.
\nThe 90 year-old facility has a storied past and an uncertain future. It\u2019s survived the departure of the railroad and the closing and reopening of the paper mill.
\nThe YMCA was opened back in 1913 and still retains many of the same fixtures including electrical and plumbing.
\nThere are a number of unique aspects of the YMCA in Tyrone including being one of only about one in ten that still rent rooms. Those rooms are located on the third floor of the building. Hampton said the older YMCA facilities are usually the only ones that rent rooms these days.
\nThe Y also still has an active theater. There are only a handful of YMCAs that operate theaters in the United States. The theater in Tyrone does not show movies but is used by the Tyrone Community Players. That group recently completed their presentation of Cinderella and many of the costumes were hung over the seats in the theater when The Daily Herald visited the YMCA on Friday.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t say enough about the Tyrone Community Players. The local talent they have is a tremendous asset to the community,\u201d said Hampton while describing how the theater is used today.
\nOver the years, many performers have appeared at the theater including Fred Waring. The lighting and even the plaster in that part of the facility are original and show signs of 90 years of use. The theater has about 325 seats.
\nVarious renovations have led to the elimination of the building\u2019s swimming pool, bowling alley and the pool hall. The swimming pool was converted to a gymnasium more that a quarter century ago by one estimate. The gym was recently refurbished with the floor being refinished in the summer of 2002. The swimming pool still remains underneath the current gym.
\nOne of the reasons for the changes is the Y is now considered to be a more activities based organization instead of a social, spiritual and church based organization that it once was in its original form.
\n\u201cI would definitely say through societal trends, things have changed over the last 30 years. We are gearing our activities to what the community needs,\u201d explained Hampton.
\nThe three lane bowling alley was converted to a weight room. The dance floor used to be a pool hall. About half of the YMCA\u2019s 400 members use the weight room.
\nJust recently, the Y began youth dances again. More than 80 people attended the last dance which was the first one held in over a year-and-a-half.
\nThe next dance is scheduled for next Friday, Nov. 21. The plan is to break the dance into two groups, the first for the younger children ages six to eight years old. Then, later the same evening a dance will be held for older children. The cost of the dance is $3 and is open to the public. No advance registration is needed.
\nThe Y continues to offer a variety programs including basketball leagues for both adult and children. Programs are also offered in dance, yoga, water aerobics, gymnastics and even karate. Open registration is offered in all those programs.
\nThe YMCA relies on money brought in by charging for memberships, programs and contributions. It also receives about ten percent of the money through the United Way.
\n\u201cI think within the economic climate there is not a lot of funding out there,\u201d said Hampton in explaining how the organization is reliant on public contribution.
\nBack in the 1980s there had been plans to build a new facility. At the time the proposed cost was estimated at between $500,000 and $600,000. A funding source for $200,000 was obtained but the plan never came to fruition.
\nThe YMCA is facing new challenges with the new Northern Blair Recreation facility being built in Antis Township near the DelGrosso Amusement Park.
\nTyrone\u2019s downtown YMCA is located at 1062 Logan Avenue and can be reached at 684-2740.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThe dynamics of the YMCA is changing. It\u2019s no longer a men\u2019s social club,\u201d said Amy Hampton, executive director of the Tyrone Area YMCA. The 90 year-old facility has a storied past and an uncertain future. It\u2019s survived the departure of the railroad and the closing and reopening of the paper mill. The YMCA was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}