Urban Adventure Center gains traction with indoor fun as archery center is set to open

A new indoor archery center in central Sioux Falls soon will be the newest addition to a growing indoor recreation center.

Urban Adventure Center opened just over two years ago at 801 N. Lake Ave. following a capital campaign for Scouting America Sioux Council.

“We’re very happy with it,” said Brett Aljets, director of marketing and development. “Inside, it’s pretty crazy. … People always go, ‘I didn’t know it was here.'”

The 63-by-72-foot space is a big box with a 40-foot bouldering wall on one end along with space for STEM activities, an all-ages game room and an indoor four-square court.

There’s a full residential kitchen, bathrooms and the outdoor Mark Shlanta Ring of Fire firepit.

“A lot of people are renting it for graduations and birthday parties,” Aljets said. “(Scout) units rent it for an award ceremony or campout, so it’s been a fun thing. Last Christmas, a grandma asked to rent the place so the grandkids could have a place to burn off energy.”

It’s booked every weekend in May, and during the summer, weekdays tend to be popular as Scout organizations use it. It has a sound system and Wi-Fi so it could be a fit for corporate events and adult social events, he added.

The building was expanded to create Urban Adventure Center and is attached to a warehouse that was used to store popcorn for Scout fundraising. That has been converted to the Urban Archery Center, which is finishing up construction and preparing to open later this week.

“It’s a portable archery center the way it’s set up, so we can move it out when the popcorn comes in,” Aljets said. “It’s pretty cool the way it’s set up.”

There’s an inflatable archery set used at Urban Adventure Center, “and people use that all the time — they love it,” he continued. “It dawned on us that people love archery from young to old. It’s one of the busiest activities we have, so we started to explore what it would look like if we partnered with Game Fish & Parks if we had the space, and it ended up we did.”

They’re working through national regulations and safety measures to ensure that trained range masters are used and the facility is up to code, he added.

The plan is to hold a grand opening Saturday, May 30, for a Scout-a-Poolsa event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Urban Adventure Center and extending over to nearby Terrace Park.

“We’re closing off the road … and we’re going to highlight Scouting with jet skis and a sailboat, and we’ll have units to simulate a campout with a Dutch oven and s’mores,” Aljets said.

When it first opened, Urban Adventure Center tried limited public hours, but no one showed up, he added.

“I think it’s one of those things people didn’t know about,” he said. “Maybe this winter, we might hit it again now that people know about it.”

Urban Archery Center will have open hours for the public, which are being finalized.

For the whole complex, “my dream is to partner with other organizations,” Aljets said. “Even the Girl Scouts, with our STEM program, or other organizations … because we have this classroom with STEM activities.”

While there is enough property to expand and the original concept called for an even larger facility, “what we have right now works really well for us,” he added.

“You go out the back door and you’re at Covell Lake and Terrace Park, and we’ll utilize that for events where Game, Fish and Parks will teach fishing at the park, and we have things at the shelters, so it’s a great thing.”