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Parks board planning heavy dose of activities in this year’s summer program

This year the parks department summer program is putting a special emphasis on drawing in teenagers with activities tailored to older kids. “We’ve tried to have teen programs before and they don’t show up,” said parks board member Irene Waters. “We realize they don’t want to show up and do nothing so we’re trying to really get something great together for them.”

Waters said the local parks district had purchased four single and one double kayak and retained local resident and kayak instructor Heidi Baxter to teach teens enrolled in the program. Baxter will also be working with the teen group, open to kids ages 13 to 17, on a mosaic project at Lighthouse Marine Park, making mosaic tiles to line the parks trails.

The new emphasis on building a teen program is not detracting from putting together an exciting summer program for children 12 and under. Coordinated by Heather Good and staffed with local teens and young adults, the program will offer three days a week of games, sports, crafts and adventures for children who have finished kindergarten to 12 years old.

Registration for the summer program, which runs from July 5 to July 28, will be July 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the community center. Waters said space is especially limited in the teen program so advance registration is required.
Another parks project to keep local kids busy is also taking off this month, when local contractor C & L Construction is set to start work on the construction of the community skatepark next to the Benson Road Firehall. “It’s in the process right now and everyone is working like crazy,” Waters said, speculating the ramps will be up and the skatepark open before summer is out.

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