Renovated Esko Fitness Center opens to public

ESKO — The newly renovated 4,800-square-foot Esko Fitness Center is open to the public.

The fitness center, made possible through a long-standing partnership between Esko Public Schools and Essentia Health, is open to Esko students and residents.

Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group

“I think it’s going to meet the community needs better than our previous one did and I know it’s going to meet the student’s needs much better,” said Esko Superintendent Aaron Fischer.

The school district owns the space where the fitness center operates and Essentia manages its daily operations. The fitness center features new equipment and facilities that will be used by Esko students and sports teams and serves as a gym and physical therapy center for the public.

Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group

The partnership between Essentia and Esko schools dates back to 1997 when the original fitness center opened. It was the only gym and physical therapy center managed by a health care system and public school in the country, according to John Haugrud, director of sports medicine for the Essentia system.

“We are an absolute pioneer — a national pioneer — in this model,” Haugrud said.

Because of its relatively rural location, the fitness center provides a more convenient option for residents who need outpatient physical therapy. The new facility is significantly larger than the original 3,400-square-foot location, so Essentia can potentially double its physical therapy operations at the fitness center, Haugrud said.

“One thing about physical therapy — you’re nursing an injury of some kind,” Haugrud said. “So convenience is a huge deal.”

The original facility was located in the center of the school and required fitness center members to walk through the school to access the gym.

A safety audit conducted for the district found that allowing the public to freely enter the building was not safe for students, Fischer said. The Esko School Board then voted to approve the addition of a fitness center so that the public could only access it from the outside.

Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group

“It was kind of done as a safety precaution first and foremost,” Fischer said.

In 2022, the district

approved a lease levy to fund the project that amounts to $2.05 million,

which accounted for the total cost of planning, design and construction.

Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group

For Essentia, the decision by the school board to move the fitness center provided the perfect opportunity to update the facility’s equipment, much of which was reaching the end of its useful life, Haugrud said. The new facility features almost all new equipment, including treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, stair steppers, rowing machines, arm bikes and weight machines.

The new location within the school also provides greater access to parking for members and patients, Haugrud said.

The new facility is open for new customers and offers annual and monthly memberships and day passes.

Macklin Caruso is a reporter for the Cloquet Pine Journal. You can reach him at mcaruso@pinejournal.com or 218-723-5253.