NITRO, V.Va. — The city of Nitro is preparing for the opening of a new sports complex.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Nitro Sports Complex will be held Friday morning, followed by a grand opening celebration for the complex and pool at 11 a.m. Saturday, city spokesman Joe Stevens said.
Since the more than $5 million sports complex was built last August, the pool was one of the first projects to get underway, and Stevens said everything is now ready at the pool except for the water slide. He said they were delayed due to supply chain issues but would arrive later next month.
Stevens said Saturday’s celebration will be topped off with Nitro High School students serving hundreds of hamburgers from a local chef to the first guests of the new pool.
“The really cool thing about it is, one of the aldermen, the city council as a whole, Bill Javins is known for providing hot dogs at our Hoedown for Halloween, I mean, he just throws a barbecue and we have free hot dogs, well, this Saturday starting at noon, he’s the head chef for 1,000 free cheeseburgers,” Stevens said.
Park Avenue in front of City Park will be closed Saturday for the event, with the stage set for The Esquires starting at 7 p.m., with fireworks starting at 9:30 p.m. Stevens expects a big crowd.
He went on to tell MetroNews that he is happy to see positive developments happening not only in the Nitro community, but through the efforts that Mayor Kay Summers is leading in Clendenin as well as other communities throughout the region.
“It’s really cool, and it’s really nice what Mayor Goodwin is doing here in Charleston, what Frank Mullins is doing in South Charleston, all the way to the metro Kanawha Valley area, you see good things happening,” he said.
Stevens said Nitro is just one of the communities tearing down dilapidated buildings that no longer served a purpose and were an eyesore for residents. He said the project now opens up a conversation about new potential to come to the area.
“There’s a lot of really good space that Mayor Casebolt and City Planner Reed are hearing from businesses saying, ‘hey, we see space, we’re interested,'” Stevens said.
Stevens said the tennis and pickleball courts at the Nitro Sports Complex are ahead of schedule and are expected to open sometime next month in June. He also said they plan to host the first major tournament at the new complex in mid-July – the Kanawha County Metro 911 First Responders Tournament.