Mt. Clemens Cairns Comm Center becomes reality

Downtown Mt. Clemens is well known as a great spot for adults to play, but the city is looking to extend that level of fun to some of its younger residents via the new Cairns Community Center.

Work on the new $1.6 million building at 58 Orchard, near the intersection of Walnut Street and Gratiot Avenue, is set to finish within the next three weeks. More work on the parking lot and surrounding grounds will push the opening date to June 7.

"It's a beautiful facility," says Darold Gholston, executive director of the Cairns Community Center. "I think it will do wonders for the community."

The 10,000-square-foot facility will have space for education, sports and other forms of recreation. An indoor basketball gymnasium will also have space for a portable stage for performances and community meetings. There will also be a state-of-the-art computer lab that will perform a number of functions.

"It will be like a Kinko's where you can do your work and print it out," Gholston says.

The facility will also offer a number of community programs for ages ranging from kids to adults to seniors. It will also be teaming up with local institutions, such as Fifth 3rd Bank and the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, to offer classes in subjects like personal finance and forensics.

This will be the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for the Cairns Community Center, which has been in the works for eight years, according to Gholston. "It's finally coming out of the ground so to speak," Gholston says.

Source: Darold Gholston, executive director of the Cairns Recreation Center
Writer: Jon Zemke

Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.