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Jesse Gill/CHAT News
IN THE COMMUNITY

Kin Coulee Park basketball court to be replaced

Jun 18, 2025 | 1:26 PM

The basketball court at Kin Coulee Park will be replaced through a combined effort between the Medicine Hat Kinsmen Club and the City of Medicine Hat.

The first phase of what the local Kinsmen club hopes to continue developing more recreational infrastructure in the park.

Kaden Johnson, project chair with the Kinsmen, said the first plan is to put a full-size regulation basketball court there with two three-on-three courts.

“When I first put this grant together, I approached, different clubs and different organizations, one of them being the college and they were very enthusiastic about it,” Johnson said.

“In my mind Kin Coulee is very underutilized. It’s a massive space and right in the middle of the city, really accessible for lots of people. So why not develop it and make it as good as it can be,” he added.

“There’s lots of opportunities down there for community involvement.”

Johnson estimates the cost of the basketball court to be in the $300,000 range, but acknowledge that could fluctuate.

“If everything can get going here by the summer, that would be great. We’re in the midst of design phase right now. The next step is things go up for tenure for contracts,” Johnson said.

“Maybe some companies are wanting to donate time or materials or kind of bring the cost down for not only ourselves as a club, but also for the city.”

The project did get a recent cash injection through a provincial grant of $125,000 through YourAlberta, which included a cheque presentation from Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright to the Kinsmen Club.

Members of the Medicine Hat Kinsmen club receive a cheque from Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright. Courtesy/Medicine Hat Kinsmen

“This community grant, we kind of went after that and they actually gave us our full ask,” Johnson said.

“We had this idea of trying to make some more legacy projects and some bigger pieces for Kin Coulee. Which holds the Kinsmen name, so we kind of feel a little bit more pride for putting stuff down there.”

Johnson said they have lots of ideas kid of floating around for additional projects in the park to make it more of a destination.

“Whether it’s a skating surface or, a place for bonfires or just kind of somewhere that the community can kind of gather and have a little bit more of that community feel,” Johnson said.

“This is obviously just phase one of let’s get something down there. Then we can always build on to it, whether we want a skating loop or other stuff down there.”