Get ready for RecFest.
The Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center will open Friday, Sept. 2, with a ceremony at the facility’s main entrance immediately after Abilene Christian University students are dismissed from Chapel at 11:30 a.m.
From then, the center will be open nearly continuously for 36 hours — with a couple of hours off to clean up Saturday morning, said Brian Devost, the facility’s executive director.
“It’s going to be a marathon,” he said. “It’s pretty much a free-for-all.”
And, yes, that’s free. For all faculty, staff and students who want to show up and participate in the all-night opening celebration.
The Money Center will be open all afternoon and evening Friday for tours and use, but the official RecFest won’t begin until 11 p.m., when a slew of co-ed tournaments — volleyball, basketball, soccer, inner-tube water polo, water relay, foul-shot competition, racquetball, shuffleboard (full-size variety) and badminton — will kick off. Meanwhile, workout equipment, the outdoor basketball court, jogging track and bouldering wall will be open for free play.
Dr. Kerri Hart, director of training and fitness programs, will provide demonstrations of the facility’s new exercise classes, and the new leisure pool will be open for use when tournaments are not taking place. Late-night food is likely, Devost said, as is a screening of the movie Jaws for those floating on inner tubes in the pool areas.
And if that wasn’t enough, students upon their arrival are entered into hourly drawings for door prizes.
“The whole night is going to be open to the students — and the faculty and staff if they want to come, as well,” Devost said. “It should be pretty exciting.”
The Money Center will likely close between 6-8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, to allow for cleaning, Devost said, then reopen for normal use.