The Cypress Hills Inter-Provincial Park held their Grand Opening for their community center Saturday night.

The center is officially open, after 2 years of construction.

A gala fundraiser was also part of the sold-out festivities.

The "Friends of Cypress Hills Park" decided on taking out the loan during the construction process, to not cause any delays. The alternative process would have seen a stop in construction, and a fundraising event immediately held once money ran out, instead of afterwards.

Gerald Gartner, CEO of Friends of Cypress Hills Park, explained the process of getting the new community center, which started 5 years ago.

"The old center was a 70 year old structure. In 2011 we had a large snow storm, and it collapsed. After that, the government decided they weren't going to rebuild it. The community proceeded to build it themselves. We raised the money, leased the property from the government, and we started building in 2014."

Gartner also suggests the financial road wasn't necessarily rough, but it was long.

"There weren't necessarily any obstacles, but it's a slow process. The oil industry is usually the biggest sponsor of stuff around here, but he economy kind of went south on us. That unfortunately didn't become a good option for corporate fundraising. We had to rely mainly on cottage owners and friends for the funding instead."

Even with the total sum from the fundraiser yet to be counted, Gartner and the Friends of the Park are happy with the success of the night.

Roughly 200 people came out for the Grand Opening of the Community Centre.

The new center will be a welcome addition to a park that sees over 300,000 yearly visitors.