Norfolk YMCA Announces Reopening Date

Norfolk YMCA Members have been waiting for this announcement for nearly two months. On Wednesday, after consideration from the board, and with permission from Governor Pete Ricketts, the time for the YMCA’s reopening has been determined.

“We kind of had a plan we’ve been planning for the last week. We met with our board today at noon and got board approval," said Norfolk YMCA Executive Director Randy Hagedorn.

“We made an announcement today. We are going to open earlier than expected. We are going to be opening this Tuesday, May 19th, at 5 in the morning.”

Strong urging from current and prior members of the YMCA motived Hagedorn and the board to pursue that early reopening.

“We’ve had hundreds of requests to come back in," Hagedorn said. "I think we got a good plan and everything in place. We’re such a huge facility, social distancing should not be an issue.”

To keep with the ten-person limit, members will need to call in schedule a time for their workout. Workouts will be limited to hour-long sessions. Sanitation supplies will be available at the entrance.

The weight room, track, cycling room, wellness center, and women’s only rooms will be available for the first phase of opening. Other places, however, will remain closed.

“The areas that won’t be open will be the field house, the pool, the locker rooms, the gyms will not be available. Those are areas that the governor and the health department kind of shied away from us using," Hagedorn said.

Despite closing its doors on March 14th, some members continued their support of the YMCA by keeping their subscriptions active.

“We’ve had a number of members that have stuck with us and have not dropped their memberships and they support us because they know we need it," Hagedorn said.

“Those ones that did cancel we totally understand, they have situations where they might have lost their jobs. We hope they come back someday, but we totally understand. But we do want to thank our members.”

A date for a full reopening hasn’t been set yet, but the board is keeping a close eye on directed health measures for the moment the YMCA will be able to make a full comeback.