This weekend, the Valley Community Center is hosting this year’s district swim meet. The event is expected to bring in 400 swimmers and approximately 800 people in total to the venue.

Bringing in a group of this size opens the opportunity for nearby restaurants like Milano’s, Papa John’s and Zaxby’s to thrive, with many of the other local businesses benefiting as well.

Recently, the Steak ‘n Shake on the popular road in Valley permanently closed. There should be no reason for this to happen to any business in that area.

There are many recreation centers in the Greater Valley Area but Valley arguably holds bragging rights of having the best facility out of the bunch. The Community Center and Sportsplex square footage combined have made the possibilities for bringing more opportunities to the area unlimited.

So why doesn’t the city take advantage of it more often?

While there are a host of local events that go on at the Community Center every week, an event that reaches the people outside of the Greater Valley Area could expand the economic growth of the community.

There are many organizations, churches and groups who are looking for new locations to host their events, tournaments or retreat conferences. For communities an hour plus away from the Community Center, the prospective event attendees would keep the local hotels full. It’s not an untested concept but why these opportunities don’t happen more often is the burning question.

The Community Center shouldn’t be just for locals. In the past few weekends, the basketball courts have been closed for a private wedding and this upcoming weekend for the swim meet.

Last week, The Valley Times-News published a column about the excitement of the Sportsplex opening a little over two decades ago. Now, it is time to take that excitement and realize the potential of the venue to maximize its potential.