Unison’s Veiner Centre sits directly in tranquil Lion’s Park, with beautiful, natural views. It’s an ideal location for meeting friends for a coffee or a game of pickleball. The South Saskatchewan River gurgles close by, which is perfect for a restorative nature walk, but it wasn’t always such a placid backdrop. At several points in history, the river has unleashed a turbulent deluge that impacted the businesses and homes of Medicine Hat. The Veiner Centre, however, is not so easily perturbed. The Unison at Veiner Centre is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Harry Veiner donated land to house a senior’s centre, and the Veiner Centre was open for business in 1975.
Since opening, Unison’s Veiner Centre has withstood four major floods. Three decades ago, in 1995, the South Saskatchewan River overflowed and flooded into Lion’s Park, damaging the Veiner Centre. After repairs, the community hoped that was the last flood they would have to endure for one hundred years. To their dismay, the river flooded once more in 2005, and then again in 2013.
The Medicine Hat community was warned about the impending severity of the 2013 flood, declaring a state of emergency on June 21. The force of nature cares not for our warning and preparations, and on June 24, the river peaked, flowing at 5,600 cubic m/s and would remain that way for five hours. After surviving three other floods with only minor repairs, the damage of the “flood of the century” (so far) was no match for Veiner’s building. Repairs were not an option, and the only way forward was to rebuild. Rebuilding the Veiner Centre was complicated.
Debates over the location of the Centre circled for three years over whether it should take root in a vacant building in Medicine Hat, rebuilding at a brand-new location, or having a new building go up in the same location as the flooding. In the meantime, seniors were supported by various locations in the city, like the Strathcona Centre, and Crestwood Pool, who hosted the activities, support, and events they had grown to rely on.
After five years of discussion, planning and preparing the location, construction on the new Veiner Centre was ready to begin in 2017, in the same location it had always been. By July 2018, a new sate-of-the-art Centre was ready to open its doors. The new building kept some elements from the original Veiner Centre. A column and a beam in the craft room provide a steadfast reminder of the original building. What stands today is a beautiful and functional recreation centre for seniors in Southern Alberta.
Unique elements in the building allow for room expansion, and detraction, depending on the activity at hand. Vaulted ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows flooding in natural light all lend an appreciation of the surroundings, located in Lion’s Park. After Unison at Veiner Centre was rebuilt, the other facilities also received a makeover. The Strathcona Centre was renovated to accommodate the fitness centre.
Updates were complete in December 2019, marking the end of a long journey for the Veiner Centre – for a short time, anyway, but that’s another story...