Big Horn Community Breaks Ground On New Recreation And Early Learning Center

Residents in and near the town of Big Horn will soon have an indoor recreation area of their own, plus youngsters will have a place to learn, away from those in higher grades.

Ground has been broken for what will soon be a 33-thousand square foot dual use facility, located behind the Big Horn High School football field press box.

Design plans include basketball and volleyball courts, walking tracks, fitness and weight rooms, an indoor turf area and a community hub.

It’s also going to have four designated classrooms designed specifically for pre-school programs.

Currently preschoolers in the Big Horn area are being taught in repurposed rooms inside Big Horn Elementary and Middle Schools, which the schools may need to use sometime in the future.

Kendra Barney is the Early Childhood Coordinator for Sheridan County School District #1.

She says as enrollment in the Big Horn schools continues to increase, the future youngsters will soon be squeezed out of their current learning areas.

The new facility will eliminate that future problem.

“This is our own designated space that’s actually designed and used for pre-school students where right now we actually have 2 classes in the middle school and one in the elementary, so those are borrowed time until the K through 12 system needs those back.”

Barney adds as far as other uses of the facility goes, it will save residents some trips to Sheridan.

“The school is the hub of Big Horn and this will just be an addition onto a place where the community can gather, where they can come recreate for (ages) 0-99. We’re really looking at this as a multi-generational facility.”

The facility costs between $6-$7 million to build and all of the funding came through donations.

The estimated construction timeline is about 1 year and once finished, management of the facility will handled by the Sheridan County School District #1 Recreation District.