It’s tradition to host a party when someone celebrates their first birthday.
So it was fitting for the staff of the Chelsea Piers Connecticut (CPCT) sports complex on Stamford’s East Side do the same. Marking a year since the 400,000 square foot facility opened in the former Clairol manufacturing plant on Blachley Road, it was party time Tuesday morning when more than 500 young campers arrived for their daily programs.
Colorful birthday balloons were tied to outdoor railings; bunches of the balloons bobbed in the lobby where CPCT staff donned sparkly birthday hats and handed out birthday trinkets to the children. Mayor Michael Pavia and members of his cabinet gathered for the official cake cutting ceremony before taking a tour of the complex that features an Olympic-size pool, two NHL regulation sized ice rinks, squash courts, indoor soccer and lacrosse fields, a gymnastics center, and basketball courts on July 9.
Pavia shot hoops with the youngsters and even tried his hand at squash under the tutelage of the number 1 ranked player in the U.S., Natalie Grainger of Greenwich.
According to David Tewksbury, president of CPCT, said he is “really excited by such an early adoption (of the facility) by the city” and residents of surrounding communities.
Sports enthusiasts from throughout southern Fairfield and Westchester counties patronize CPCT, Tewksbury said. “It’s both a local and quasi-regional facility,” he said.
With Chelsea Piers, there also has been a growth of jobs available in Stamford.
According to Tewksbury, more than 300 are employed year-round and those ranks swell to more than 400 during the summer with college students hired as counselors.
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