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The Spanish Fork FitCity Center is pictured Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Two boys play basketball at the FitCity Center on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Spanish Fork.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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A boy plays pickleball at the FitCity Center on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Spanish Fork.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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A competitive swimming pool is pictured at the FitCity Center on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Spanish Fork.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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A running track is shown at the FitCity Center on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Spanish Fork.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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The Spanish Fork FitCity Center is pictured Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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For more than a decade, Spanish Fork Mayor Mike Mendenhall said feedback the city received from its citizens made one thing clear: The people wanted a recreation center.

“There’s a lot of needs in a community, but that one kept coming back at the top of the list,” he said.

After years of planning, the wish turned into a reality.

Spanish Fork opened the FitCity Center this week, a 136,000-square-foot, $75 million facility equipped with six pools, two basketball courts, a senior center, a weightlifting center, multiuse courts and more.

The recreation center held a soft opening Monday through Wednesday and started a three-day grand opening Thursday that concludes Saturday. On Wednesday night, day three of the soft opening, the facility was swarming with people.

Teenage boys ran pickup games on both of the basketball courts, families occupied the large indoor pool, with a gaggle of kids lined up to go down the indoor waterslide, and the gym was packed with people riding ellipticals and pumping iron.

This is what Mendenhall envisioned.

“You’re seeing a bunch of people that are in a place together and, yes, they’re all focused on some level on their physical health, but how much social health is happening here?” he said.

The facility, which had been under construction since fall 2023, relied on a $65 million sales tax revenue bond approved by the Spanish Fork City Council in 2024.

According to the city, 40% of the project is funded by recreation, arts and parks tax, and 40% is funded by property tax. Sales tax accounts for $7.5 million and impact fees fund $3.75 million.

The city hopes the building is a social and physical hub not just for youth but for everyone in the city, including the seniors. 

Spanish Fork’s existing senior center will be moved to the rec center. A large room on the north wing will serve as the aging community’s dedicated space, where the city will provide two lunches a week as part of their membership, according to FitCity Center Director Nicholas Porter.

Mendenhall added that those lunches may be the only time some seniors are getting out of the house and said it was important to include their space with everyone else’s.

“And they told us they wanted to not just be put in some place for them, but they’re part of the community — they built this community,” Mendenhall said. “So it’s a huge aspect of the social health that they get to be with their families and younger people and each other and really enjoy their space. That to me is a huge part of the social momentum of the community, and this place is just a huge aspect of it.”

For younger generations, the aquatics area was identified as a priority. Spanish Fork had an outdoor city pool, but it closed to make room for the expansion of Spanish Fork High School.

Porter said providing a place again where the city could offer swim lessons and water recreation to the community was a priority.

The indoor pool section consists of a leisure pool, a lazy river, waterslide, diving area and a competition pool. The outdoor pool area has a lazy river, a leisure pool and multiple waterslides.

“Having six total pools, three indoor and three outdoor, means that those families can enjoy it year-round,” Mendenhall said.

The rec center will also serve as a hub for swim teams at local high schools, with a regulation-size swimming pool equipped with a 456-person grandstand.

“We really want it to be a nice place for spectators for swim meets,” Porter said.

Rounding out the facility are several workout rooms that will hold more than 60 fitness classes per week run by more than 50 instructors. A track around the basketball and multiuse courts includes an elevated surface. There is a daycare room where parents can pay to have their kids watched for a few hours.

Membership for Spanish Fork residents costs $295 annually for an adult, $165 for youth or ages 60 and up and $505 for a family.

Mendenhall believes the facility will be a place where a city that has grown to more than 50,000 residents can still maintain its small-town social identity.

“This is the way you still feel small as a community, is you have spaces and places for people to gather and really have a good time.”