It may not be the Taj Mahal, but for the tiny town of Baggs, it comes pretty close. The 17,000-square-foot Valley Community Center drops jaws when visitors see it for the first time.
“Most people when they come in are always really surprised that we have this building,” Valley Community Center TRX Instructor Celia Weber told Cowboy State Daily. “They’re like, ‘Wow, this is crazy that they have this in Baggs.’”
Craig, Colorado, a city about 40 miles south with more than 20 times the population of Baggs, doesn’t even have a community center, Weston pointed out.
“It’s surprising that we have this, and it keeps running the way it does,” she said.
The tale of how it came to be is even more amazing.
The $2.3 million center was a project few believed in except for a couple of women who never gave up despite obstacle after obstacle. They believed the tiny town of Baggs was worthy of having a community center, and it has since become a regional hub, even serving people from northern Colorado.
Features That Larger Communities Don’t Have
The center even has features larger communities, like Cheyenne, don’t have, such as a publicly accessible indoor walking track.
It takes 12 laps to go a mile on the track in the Valley Community Center, but having it indoors means people have a nice place to run or walk even in the dead of winter.
The community center in Baggs also has a training room for classes like chair Pilates and TRX, a CrossFit style exercise program, as well as for lifting weights. There are two pickleball courts, and a large party room for events such as weddings, funerals, birthdays and other meetings.
The center has retractable bleachers for when it hosts basketball games, pep rallies and other community events.
The gymnasium space can also be quickly converted into a very large party space for things like the annual Baggs Ball, which helps support the facility and raises around $50,000 in private donations for the facility every year.
A Lifeline For Many
The Valley Community Center is in use all of the time, and people in the community view it as a lifeline.
Like Mary Chamberlain, who attends the chair Pilates class with her service dog, Flip.
“I was having some balance issues,” Chamberlain told Cowboy State Daily. “I hurt my knee a couple of years ago. The new step that’s here, and the chair Pilates course, are making a big difference for me with walking.”
It has led to her getting out more often, and she feels confident about doing her own grocery shopping again. She’s not terrified any more that she’s going to fall and break something.
“Without the community center here, I’d have to go to Craig for classes,” she said, adding that she’s not sure she could stick with that all year long if it involved so much driving, particularly in winter when roads may be poor.
Sharon Simonetti, meanwhile, has joined the chair Pilates course to regain her sense of balance and core strength. Her big goal is to go skiing with grandchildren this winter.
She’s had to overcome some serious health issues and surgeries that left her much weaker than before. Floor pilates would have been a little beyond her, but chair Pilates is just right for easing back into a fitness routine and regaining her balance and coordination.
“I used to ski downhill at Steamboat and it’s a joy of my heart,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
To ski downhill with her grandchildren and teach them to ski? It’s a dream that is keeping her going and motivated, and it’s all been made possible because there’s rehabilitation space for her in the tiny town of Baggs.
But it’s not just people from Baggs who come to the community center.
“We even have people who come up from Craig, Colorado, because they don’t have a building like this where you can just go in and play basketball,” Cathy Terkla told Cowboy State Daily.
She helped spearhead the building of the community center in Baggs.
“Here you don’t have to be on a team,” she said. “You don’t have to be associated with anything to come here. We have a day rate, and for like five bucks you can shoot hoops all day.”
That five bucks includes showers, the walking track and the weight room.
“The building is used kind of nonstop these days,” Terkla said, beaming. “It’s so great to have this, but we worked hard for it.”
The donor wall at Valley Community Center lists donors and tells a little of the story of how the $2.3 million center was built in the tiny town of Baggs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Manager of the Valley Community Center Celia Weber works the front desk, but also teaches a TRX class. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
A walking track rings the basketball court that is on the other side of the concrete wall. The area also houses some of the exercise equipment at the Valley Community Center. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Ellipticals and other exercise equipment at Valley Community Center. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Locker rooms are also available at the Valley Community Center. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
The locker room comes with accessible showers at the Valley Community Center. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
These curtains can be spread across the entire gymnasium floor for special occasions, creating an event center instead of a basketball court and workout space. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Sharyn Simonetti talks with Cathy Terkla, who teaches a chair Pilates class at the Valley Community Center in Baggs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
An open workout room at the Valley Community Center in Baggs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) Sharyn Simonetti talks with Cathy Terkla, who teaches a chair Pilates class at the Valley Community Center in Baggs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Changing The World A Street Corner At A Time
The Baggs Community Center is really a shining example of that old maxim from Margaret Mead. Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world — they’re the only ones that ever have.
But it was not easy to build such a facility in a town that the U.S. Census estimated has just 405 people as of May.
“We learned every step of the way building this,” Terkla told Cowboy State Daily. “I mean our first meeting with the school district that I went to, to ask for money, the treasurer for Carbon County asked how are you going to pay for your O & M? And here I am standing up in a huge room full of people and I don’t even know what that is.”
Terkla and her group realized they had some work to do if they were going to convince people it was possible to build a community center in a tiny town like Baggs.
That started with learning what O & M stands for — operations and maintenance — and led to a deep dive into a labyrinth of funding options, many of which never panned out.
“This is when we kind of started chasing our tails,” Terkla said. “We went through all the options that we had to bring in money. And Larry Hicks, who is our state senator today, helped us through that process so much.”
At first, it seemed like a special tax district might be the best vehicle to drive their project home.
“We thought we could get some tax money from oil and gas through that,” Terkla said. “But ultimately that was going to be way too difficult to get that figured out.”
Nice Girls Don’t Make History
Terkla and her committee also looked at other options, including a daycare in the center to help fund the facility’s O & M, or perhaps a grant to fund the first few years.
It was during this timeframe that they learned a brand-new lesson. Not everyone was eager to help, and some even openly discouraged them.
A man who worked for a Wyoming nonprofit told Terkla that he’d drive to Baggs to talk about the project if they would just buy his lunch.
“So, we’re like OK, sure,” Terkla said. “We were stupid at that point. We thought he was going to offer us some grant money.”
Instead, after listening to their dreams and eating their free lunch, he patted Terkla on the shoulder and said, “You’re really nice girls trying to get this for your community, but it’s never going to happen,” Terkla recalled.
“After he left, we looked at each other and we said, ‘We’re not nice girls. And that became our mantra through the whole thing. We are not nice girls. We will get this done.”
The Day Santa Claus Came To Baggs
Terkla didn’t want to give up on the dream, but there were times where she felt like they’d hit a wall that they just could not climb over.
“I had just about given up,” Terkla said. “Then the school district called and said, ‘We’re having our board meeting in Baggs. Can you give us an update on your project?’”
Terkla decided she had at least one more meeting in her, even if she felt her report wasn’t a very encouraging one. After eight to nine years of effort trying to find a way to build this dream, they had very little to show for it. They were still stuck at the chicken-egg stage.
It was beginning to feel as if the Wyoming foundation man who’d eaten their free lunch had been right about their project.
They were nice girls. And they were not going to get this done.
The School Board, however, had begun to get excited about the idea, and they didn’t want Terkla to give up just yet.
“So, all right, here we go, let’s crank it back up,” Terkla said.
The next day, a little bit of magic happened.
“A gentleman by the name of Tom Johnson came into the community’s Town Hall where I was working,” Terkla recalled. “And he said, ‘I’m your representative from the Wyoming Business Council. And I’ve never been to your community. I’m sorry about that, but you’re off the beaten track. But is there anything the Wyoming Business Council can help you with?’”
Terkla’s jaw dropped open and for a moment she was stunned.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And he says, ‘No, do you have any like small business that you want to get started? Any buildings that you want to get built?””
Well funny you should ask, Terkla thought to herself.
“I was just dumbfounded,” Terkla said. “It was like Santa Claus had just walked in the front door.”
The Valley Community Center is large enough to accommodate the Baggs Ball, the main fundraiser for the center. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
The community center in Baggs, Wyoming, even has an indoor walking track. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
A full gymnasium and basketball court is available for multiple uses. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
There are plenty of multi-purpose rooms to host clubs and classes. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
The 17,000-square-foot Valley Community Center in Baggs is the place to be in this tiny community of fewer than 500 people in southern Wyoming. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
The Valley Community Center is large enough to accommodate the Baggs Ball, the main fundraiser for the center. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
A full gymnasium and basketball court is available for multiple uses. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
There are plenty of multi-purpose rooms to host clubs and classes. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
A full gymnasium and basketball court is available for multiple uses. (Valley Community Center via Facebook) 
There's even a kitchen in the community center. (Valley Community Center via Facebook)
Set Up A Circus Tent And Call It Done
The road to building the Baggs Community Center from here did not necessarily get easier. But now the community had someone who was experienced when it comes to red tape and government programs, who wasn’t going to give up on them. Someone who could help them figure out which hoops were worth it, and which were just a waste of time.
“We didn’t fit into a lot of their programs because we didn’t have any unused buildings in the community that either the town or school owned,” Terkla said. “At one point we laughed and said,’ ‘We’re just going to have to set up a circus tent because that’s how crazy this has gotten.’ We were throwing things out like, ‘Well, we could get a trailer, hook it up to electricity, and then build onto that.’”
Ultimately, all circus jokes aside, what they did do was form the Valley Community Center Joint Powers Board, composed of two representatives each from Dixon and Baggs, and one representative from Carbon County.
“Our first million came from an unused road and bridge grant that was $500,000,” Terkla recalled. “There was no one using it, but we had to have matching funds to get it. So, Devon Energy, they were a large energy company here, we approached them.”
When the Oklahoma-headquartered Devon Energy Corp. agreed to match the grant, that opened a lot of other doors. Suddenly, everyone believed in their project.
There were no more people patting them on the shoulder telling them they were “nice girls.”
Nice Girls Do Make History
After the Baggs Community Center was built, Terkla got the chance to sit in a room again with the person who’d told her they were “nice” girls who couldn’t get the job done. There was a certain satisfaction to that, even though the individual seemingly didn’t recall the incident.
What they ultimately worked out for the building is a multi-pronged revenue stream. One prong comes from the Carbon County School District No. 1, through the Recreation Board, which covers about 25% of expenses.
There are also fairly nominal user fees for those who want an annual membership. Adults up to age 59 pay $75, while seniors and students pay just $20. Day rates are $5. Those who want 24-7 access can pay $1 a day for the executive membership plan or $365 total. Otherwise, the hours for general use are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
A large portion of that O & M money that had been such a stumbling block to Terkla and her team member’s dream now comes from an unlikely source. The community itself gives — and quite generously — during the Baggs Ball.
For the ball, the community center is transformed based on whatever the theme is that year. This year’s theme was the Kentucky Derby.
“The ball is actually a big deal and it’s kind of amazing,” Terkla said. “This year, we had a pinewood derby track and had horse races in the middle of the room.”
These were not real horses mind you. Local high school students made pine derby horses for the event, painting and decorating each one.
But the students couldn’t believe how much their horses brought at auction. No horse went for less than $1,000, and some went for considerably more.
“The kids were so shocked,” Terkla said. “I kept telling them this was a big deal, that we’re going to raise a lot of money on your horses. People are very generous here, and they want to see this building open.”
It all just goes to show that nice girls do make history after all. In Baggs, they built a community center few believed possible. And maybe, they were the only ones who could.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
