Moods at the Canada Games Centre Thursday afternoon and evening were more ebullient than they've been in weeks.

Smiling faces crowded together at picnic tables and under tents outside the centre, and the smell of cooking hot-dogs permeated the air.

Community members, centre staff and city councillors had gathered to celebrate the reopening of the centre's pool with a jovial barbecue.

"I think (the barbecue) went well,” Art Manhire, the centre's indoor facilities manager, said this morning.

"If hot dogs are an indication, we went through our 350 hot dogs in the first hour, and had to go out and get another 200.”

Pool patrons dined on two giant cakes. Community members penned well-wishes on a giant banner. Staff were on hand to answer lingering questions about what happens next.

The pool has been closed for nearly two weeks after a fire was set in the ATCO Arena on June 24.

Thick black smoke spread throughout the building, and damage from the blaze may top $5 million.

The rest of the centre remains closed indefinitely.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially reopen the pool was originally planned for about 4:15 p.m.

But people were so eager to jump in the water that Mayor Bev Buckway ended up doing the snip just a few minutes after 4:00.

Getting the aquatic centre back up and running has been a long process, Manhire said. And there's still much work to be done on the rest of the facility.

"But getting this component back up and running kind of adds some fuel to the fire to keep going,” Manhire said. "And it's just so nice to see how people responded to that.”

The pool means many different things to many different people. Not having it for nearly two weeks has proved its importance to the community, Manhire said.

"You had a real gambit. You had people like the swim club who are training for Western nationals and really looking for space to train and of course missing that and triathletes who were swimming out in Lake Laberge instead.

"But then you had the kids and the families and a lot of what we saw was parents coming with their young children and playing in the pool. And that was very nice to see.”

The responses to the reopening were "emotional”, Manhire said,

They ranged from two young girls who thanked Buckway for reopening the facility to a mother who told Manhire her four-year-old daughter was having nightmares that not everyone had made it out of the building all right the evening of the fire.

Manhire talked to the young lady and let her know everything is OK and the pool is back up and running.

It wasn't just pool users who were emotional either.

"There were a few tears shed last night by a bunch of my staff who are just so glad to be back doing what we do,” Manhire said.

The facility's role as a meeting place was also demonstrated yesterday, Manhire said.

Though the barbecue was not scheduled to get underway until 4 p.m., community members began lining up at 3 p.m., catching up with friends they hadn't seen throughout the closure.

"One of the things this facility does is act as a social gathering place,” Manhire said.

"The individual uses all amount to the community use. And it's nice to be reminded of that individual impact on the community.”

Seeing the community response reminds staff how important it is to get other parts of the centre up and running as soon as possible, Manhire said.

The next stages of restoration will bring back things like the Birdhouse, Subway and the Wellness Centre.

However, it was the value of the aquatic centre that was evident Thursday evening.

Shortly after being reopened, the facility was being well used, with young people doing cannon balls off the diving board and flinging themselves to the water's surface from the hanging rope.

Some determined lane swimmers braved the wakes, while others lounged in the hot tub.

Nearby, giggles bubbled from the packed kiddie pool and the water slide elicited squeals of joy.

At one point, six lifeguards watched over about 300 pool users, Manhire said.

On the aquatic centre's terrace, watchful parents sat and chatted.

Behind them was the only real reminder of the fire, as people in hardhats, respirators and fluorescent vests occasionally walked past the large windows looking out on to the main building.

"When you're in here and swimming, you can very easily forget that the rest of the facility is still in varying stages of disaster —  because that's what it is,” said Manhire.

The aquatic centre is now back to regular hours. It will be free over the weekend as staff work on "getting set up a little bit better,” Manhire said.