HOGANSVILLE – Hogansville’s 55 and up crowd are sure to find more events to go to and more to do in town thanks to recent changes made at the Active Life Center.

The Active Life Center in Hogansville has recently received improvements ranging from new windows to new equipment to new programs – in a building that also houses the city’s recreation department and God’s Bread Basket – more “homey” and inviting for members hoping to come to the center for any of the its various events.

“Older adults – especially baby boomers – are concerned about fitness, exercise and all of that, and we are hoping to see an expansion in both West Point and Hogansville of more fitness, exercise, dance,” said Troup County Director of Aging Services Dan Wooten. “…There are just a lot of opportunities that we have to reach these communities with more programs and activities, and we are hoping to be able to do that.”

Wooten’s role has recently expanded to include the West Point Active Life Center, and he is currently working to expand programs and find community members willing to lead new programs for all three centers. Among those programs is the swiftly growing Line Dancing class at Hogansville’s Active Life Center that take place on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. The center also plans to host a Dance on Saturday at 7 p.m. featuring Jimmy Smith and the New River Band, weather permitting.

“My ultimate goal is (for) things that we offer in Hogansville, you’ll see mirrored in LaGrange, and possibly even mirrored in West Point, and it gives us continuity across the board with our senior services programs,” said Troup County Parks and Recreation Director Cajen Rhodes.

Rhodes admits that not all programs will be popular everywhere, but he would like to give Active Life members the opportunity to try new things whether it be a quilting group, tai chi classes or special event trips to locations like the Andersonville Prisoner of War Camp and Museum or dinner out at Texas Roadhouse – trips that are currently on LaGrange’s Active Life calendar.

“With these trips we will advertise that we are going to go to X place, and if you want to go, you sign up and you pay ahead of time,” said Rhodes. “Then if we meet our minimum, we go on the trip. … Here in LaGrange, they have been very popular, and I would love to see them get a jump start. I would love to see special event trips being offered in West Point and in Hogansville.”

The recreation department aims to simply break even on costs with trip fees because of a desire to avoid subsidizing the trips, and Rhodes hopes that by offering trips from West Point and Hogansville in the future, they will be able to serve more of Troup County’s residents who may not be comfortable driving all the way to LaGrange.

The Hogansville Active Life Center has also recently had a projector screen installed that will allow members to watch movies and work out to exercise videos in the gym. The center plans to show movies on Thursday’s after lunch – which is served to members daily at 11:30 a.m. for a small fee.

All three centers need more community volunteers to help with programs ranging from art classes to dance classes with a special need for fitness instructors.

“Especially in health and wellness, (we need) fitness teachers to serve at any of the three facilities,” said Wooton. “It’s vital. Yoga, tai chi, low impact aerobics, dance, Zumba type – all of those type of fitness programs – and then dance because at our facility in LaGrange we’ve got line dancing, square dancing, ballroom dancing, so we’ve got different types of dancing that we’d like to offer to the whole community – the whole county.”

The Active Life Centers in Hogansville and LaGrange also offer transportation to the centers for no charge to members through Troup Transit. Troup Transit can be contacted through the active life centers or through the Mike Daniel Recreation Center at 706-883-1670. Troup Transit also offers transportation to local doctor’s appointments for members at a low cost.

The dance at the Hogansville Active Life Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday at 407 Church Street. The event is open to all adults and costs $5 to attend. The main Church Street entrance is currently under construction due to weather damage, so the center can be accessed through Collier Street.

Those interested in volunteering to help with programs are encouraged to contact Wooten at 706-883-1681 or at dwooten@troupsenior.org.

Reach Alicia B. Hill at alicia.hill@lagrangenews.com or at 706-884-7311, Ext. 2154.