Centered on fitness — Ribbon cut on The Center: Rural Fitness and Wellness in Reinbeck

T-R PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER — Kim Snow cuts the ribbon on her new Reinbeck fitness facility, The Center: Rural Fitness and Wellness this past Tuesday afternoon. Those in attendance for the ceremony included, from left, Reinbeck Community Development Board (RCDB) member Mike Rickert, [Snow], RCDB member Tom Boheman (obscured), Linda Rickert, RCDB member Marion Boyer, The Center’s Sue Buskohl, RCDB member Jean Silver, and RCDB member Dale Wambold.

REINBECK – Kim Snow is putting fitness front and center in Reinbeck and hoping it remains that way for the foreseeable future.

This past Tuesday, with members of the community by her side, the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Class of 1992 alumna officially cut the ribbon on her new facility, The Center: Rural Fitness and Wellness.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Snow said when asked about the origins of the business. “My dad had a shed that he stored all of his cars in and I always thought it would be cool to turn that into a fitness facility, but it was on a residential lot.”

Snow’s late parents, Dean and Penny Snow, were longtime residents of Reinbeck before passing away in 2020 and 2019, respectively. Both worked for Lincoln Savings Bank while also being heavily involved in several community organizations and in their only daughter’s education.

After graduation, Snow – an athlete, personal trainer, and multi-Ironman competitor – left Reinbeck to attend North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC), where she played both volleyball and softball before later enrolling at the University of Northern Iowa where she graduated with a degree in mapmaking.

For the last 15 years or so, she has lived and worked in St. Petersburg, Fla., operating Kim Snow Personal Training via a private fitness studio she opened in 2018 – a facility her parents always referred to as ‘The Center.’ It was shortly after her dad’s passing that she realized it might be time to come home.

“My lease was up down there [in Florida] and they raised the rent. So I came back here to run my [personal training] business,” Snow explained. “I had always had my eye on this lot because of the trees and outdoor grass space. I saw my parents struggle physically [as they aged] and it was hard to watch. And they didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Snow opened The Center, as the new facility is colloquially referred to in honor of her parents, this past January after breaking ground in July of 2023 on an empty, tree-filled lot located on the east side of town across the street from the future home of the Reinbeck Fire Station.

Providing local folks with a brand new facility in which to meet both their fitness and wellness goals while staying close to home was certainly the main driver behind her decision to build The Center, Snow said, but it was not the sole impetus.

“The other half of the reason was the fact that I am ‘it’ in my family. I’m an only child. I’m not married. I wanted to leave something behind. My mom and dad served the community in so many ways. I wanted something to outlast us in some capacity,” she said.

The new fitness space, housed inside a brilliant blue building ringed by an outdoor hiking trail, is certainly a beautiful space both inside and out, and it is brimming with equipment — including treadmills, ellipticals, seated bikes, NuSteps (inclusive recumbent cross trainers), stair climbers, row machines, upright bikes, free motion equipment, dumbbells, free weights, squat racks, a bench rack, and more. There is also a small locker area located just off the main entrance.

“We have all brand new cardio equipment,” Snow said.

T-R PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER — The Center, a new fitness facility located on the eastern outskirts of Reinbeck at 101 Progress Dr., is pictured on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The facility is owned and operated by Gladbrook-Reinbeck Class of 1992 alumna Kim Snow, a personal trainer and coach who splits her time between Reinbeck and Florida. She founded The Center in memory of her late parents and grandparents – Dean and Penny Snow, and Harold and Lucille Snow.

The facility also hosts group fitness classes including Yoga with Yuko and Reboot with Kinsey Dinsdale, but Snow said she would love to offer more if the demand exists.

While The Center is accessible by key fob to paid members (day passes are also available) from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, the facility also has staffed hours Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Monday through Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m.

An Endurance Physical Therapy satellite office is also housed within the facility and staffed by Physical Therapist Dana Schmidt of Grundy Center.

On Tuesday afternoon, as several people used the fitness equipment in the background, members of the Reinbeck Community Development Board lined up beside Snow – including her former high school business teacher, Mr. Wambold – to watch as she formally ‘cut the ribbon’ on her new facility. While the community has been supportive of Snow’s endeavor, she said some were a bit skeptical of the venture.

“People thought I was crazy, but so far, we’re up [to] 215 members,” Snow said proudly. “We haven’t been open even a year yet.”

She said her goal is to reach 800 members – a goal which would certainly ‘center’ fitness among a significant number of the town’s residents.

“It’s for the city,” Snow said. “This is what I want to leave behind.”

The Center: Rural Fitness & Wellness is located at 101 Progress Drive on the outskirts of Reinbeck. For more information including how to become a member, visit https://thecenter-reinbeck.com/, or follow the business’s Facebook page.

A legacy page on Snow’s website details further the intent behind her founding of The Center and is printed below.

“This fitness facility is dedicated to the community of Reinbeck in loving memory of the Snow Family: Frank, Emma (great-grandparents), Harold and Lucille (grandparents), and Dean and Penny (parents). All were lifelong residents who took great pride, contributed endlessly through several local organizations and supported our community and its residents with helping hands and full hearts. Without them, this facility would not exist. My wish is that their memory lives on for many years and generations to come.”