From breaking a sweat to boosting overall wellness, a new fitness hub in Meadow Lake is poised to become a go-to destination for people looking to invest in their health. Meadow Lake’s Dayna Demmans, along with her partner, William Swofford, are in the process of developing the Up North Wellness Hub at the former Atomic Sports building at 202 2nd Ave. West. Demmans and Swofford currently own and operate Up North Crossfit on Railway Avenue, but soon plan to relocate their business – and introduce others – at the new location. 

“We’re kind of in phase one of our development now,” Demmans told Northern Pride. “We’re developing the front 5,000 square feet of that building. There’s 10,000 square feet in total, but renovating the back warehouse will be our winter project. We’re working on the front right now, which will eventually house a Supplement World store, a Pilates and yoga studio, there will be five wellness rooms we will be renting out for massage therapy and whatnot, and a 24-our access gym will also be located in the front space as well.” Demmans went on to reiterate Up North Crossfit will move to the new building either in the winter or by next spring. “We plan on putting that in the back warehouse,” she said. “It will take up about a third of the back warehouse, and the rest of the space will be a very large athletic training area. This will allow us to focus in on sports development and athletic training for young athletes in town. We will also have a dedicated Olympic lifting area for our Olympic lifting club. We are working on a few other details for the back as well, but we still have a few pieces to finish up and finalize. It will essentially start as soon as we’re done the front portion.” 

Demmans went on to state it’s long been a dream of both hers and Swofford’s to develop a wellness centre type of business locally. “Will has done something similar in the U.S. with his gym there, and we just found we didn’t have the space to do that where we (Up North Crossfit) is now,” she said. “Even if we were to expand into the front space of our current building, it would never provide the space we need. About a year-and-a-half ago, we purchased the lot next to us and planned on building. Then, this spring, we saw the sign on Atomic Sports saying it was for sale and decided to take a look at that building.” Demmans had never been in the back portion of the Atomic Sports building, and said, as soon as she walked into the back warehouse, she knew it would be perfect. “It’s on a double lot, so we will also have an outdoor training area,” she added. “I also think we will get more foot traffic down there.” Renovations on the building began in the second week of July. “We’re shooting for mid-September to open the gym, the studio and the wellness rooms,” Demmans said. “Supplement World will likely open some time in October. We have the space we (Up North Crossfit) are in now until May. Yes, we want to get it over to the new building as soon as we can, but we have a bit of time to work with.” As noted, the new building will be referred to as the Up North Wellness Hub. “We want to keep the Up North branding,” Demmans noted. “We will have different businesses within the centre, but they want to be under the wellness hub as well.” 

Meanwhile, Quincy Winkler, who operated Atomic Sports for a number of years said the store will still have a presence at the building once renovations are completed. “We are still in business in the same building,” he posted via social media. “We are moving to a smaller space within the same building, as there is an exciting new project being built within which will occupy the majority of the space.” Winkler went on to state the store no longer carries clothing and footwear. “Our hockey section will be substantially smaller as we no longer have the space,” he said. “I will be sharpening skates all year, so not to worry. As a business, we are focusing more on team, corporate, school orders, etc. as that has become the bulk of our sales.” He also said Demmans fits the part as far as anything fitness and nutrition is concerned. “Obviously she spends some time in the gym,” he said “And, Will, he’s fairly new to Meadow Lake. If you haven’t met him I suggest you take the time. I met him through a mutual love of baseball. He is multi-talented and might just be the smartest man I have ever met.” 

In closing, Demmans commented on the importance of making something like the wellness hub available to Meadow Lake and area residents. “Both Will and I have always been big believers any movement is good movement,” she said. “We’re big on collaborating and the idea of building a community within the gym and the wellness centre. We’re just excited to build a healthy place in Meadow Lake. It’s hard to find something like this. We want to create a healthy hangout place for kids and for adults. Having everything under one roof also lowers the barrier to entry… If we’re all within one building, it will be more of a collective space for everybody.”