Margaret W. Carpenter Recreation Center — Attraction in Thornton

The good points are: the staff are friendly and competent. Everything is kept clean and orderly. It appears they have more Lifeguards than other pools. The lifeguards aren't blowing their irritating whistles all the time like at Apex rec center. The swimming area has a device to spin most of the water off of your suit. It is located right as you enter the pool, so after getting dressed , you need to go back into the pool area. Large locker room, but you can't use the larger shackle more secure locks that aren't spring loaded. Individual showers, but you must leave your stuff hanging outside. -When the children's area is open, there is a water stream to massage your back. I think I understood there is senior volleyball during the week during the day. The lap lanes are of the appropriate cooler temperatures on this Sunday morning everyone could have their own lane. This location is one of the first to open in the area on Sundays. The center is surrounded by a huge park and has a large sun bathing area for the summer. . . I didn't use the weights or other options. They have senior parking up close. That is the first time I've seen that. I didn't use it, but appreciate it for others.

The bad: The lazy river isn't really warm enough, especially with the huge fan above blowing down on you. The jets are not powerful enough in the lazy river to massage your body like at other centers. Of course , they aren't made for that purpose. I didn't use the hot tub after getting an infection at the Wheat Ridge recreation center last month.

They use to have adult volleyball in the evening on three courts. They were always busy. But that isn't true now. Possibly because of a group of males that insisted on dominating the courts, here and at other recreation centers the area. They were probably the same ones that were in such violent fights outside Wheat Ridge recreational center, that some went to the hospital, and stopped volleyball there for a long time.

Lots of pickle ball available, even on the weekend. Many rec' centers only have pickle ball during the day on weekdays. I don't play pickleball or volleyball anymore.

On weekends this center opens...

My whole family and my in-laws all got memberships and It was great until I got my son some badminton rackets. I went in around 4 on a Friday (with my 9 year old son at the time) which is when they had Badminton. There were a few people there but I was greeted almost instantly that the courts will be being used and that I should try going somewhere else. (forgot the name) I told him this was one of the reasons I got the membership and he said Oh………..well then you can come back on Sunday. I told him that is not happening because I work then. When I was playing with my son they had two people get on the court while we were playing that I noticed they were kind of nudging us off. I went up to the front desk and they said no it is open court but that this happens all the time and she has talked to them so many times. I told the players that I would like to play and that I could join your Facebook group so we can play together. The guy said that is not possible and he would not tell me why…..then I found out the group played together based off of race. My son was so excited but we ended up finding something else as we did not feel welcome. We had 5 memberships and none of us renewed. Sad to think others probably go through this...

I recently visited Thornton rec center, and I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed with the way things are managed, especially when it comes to the pool. During school breaks, you’d expect everything to be open for kids, but that's far from the case here. First off, why is it that every time I come, so much of the pool is closed, or worse—broken? It's frustrating to see that there’s only one pool open for kids when it’s a peak time. You don’t need six lap lanes when nobody’s even using them.

On top of that, there’s a lot of wasted potential with the ninja course and the slide—both are either closed or unavailable for use. It’s almost as if the people scheduling these activities don’t understand how many kids are coming in looking for something to do. With 20 kids running around because they’re bored, you'd think they'd open up more things for them to enjoy.

Honestly, whoever is in charge of the pool schedule really needs to rethink things. It's clear that they don't have a good grasp on what the community needs, especially during busy times like school vacations. It’s frustrating for parents and kids alike. Hopefully, they can make some...