People in Elie may notice a bit more activity around the old elementary school.

That's because a project is in the works, which would see a new community owned fitness centre, known as the F5 Gym, created in the vacant school's gymnasium. Cartier Councillor Estelle Thornson's been spearheading the initiative, after visiting a friend whose community had a successful co-op fitness centre in place, and felt the project would be great for the town of Elie.

"I floated it by a few people and thought the old elementary school would be a good fit for it. I talked to one of the owners of that, and he came out and saw it. Luckily, he's someone who attends the gym almost every day, but has to travel to the city. He grabbed on to this, and said he thought it could work. So, here we are, we're trying to make it work."

They've been doing more than just making it work at this point. Thornson says they've already held several community meetings, which saw a great response from residents. She says even those who couldn't attend the meeting have been getting in touch with them through email and Facebook, to learn more about the project.

Aside from members of the community, Thornson has also been working with the Manitoba Cooperative Association to move through the process. She says it was encouraging to hear that many of these community owned and facilitated gyms are often quite successful.

"They say these are the most successful ones because they're member owned, and no one is trying to make a big profit as if it was a private individual trying to make a living. It works really well because everyone has a share in it, so it's to their own advantage to keep it going strong."

Her dream is to see the facility take off and be run completely by the community, with no paid staff helping to coordinate the day-to-day operations.

"We want to see 24/7 access. You don't have to be a member, but you have to pay a monthly, annual, or three month package type thing. It'll be volunteer based, with no employees. The volunteers, depending on what they do, their pay will be a free membership."

The fitness centre's set to take a large step forward this week. Another community meeting is set for Wednesday evening at the Elie Veterans Hall at 7:00, where they'll elect a board of directors to help the idea come to fruition. Thornson says if the project continues to move along at this pace, they could see the new fitness centre opened September 1st.