The Lakeland Municipal Parks and Recreation/Natural Resources Advisory Board met Tuesday (7.10.18) to review parks and events.
Zadie E Kuehl Memorial Park
The grant from The Boyd Foundation has been funded. Monies may be used for either planning or infrastructure of the Dog Park at Zadie Kuehl Park. The grant is for $25,000 and not as reported last month as $2,500. There are plans for a check celebration in the park soon.
There was discussion on how the dog park will be laid out. The current idea is to have the fenced dog park within the current park area. Walking trails would be expanded into the new land, rather than cutting down trees to create a dog park. It will add a beautiful wooded area to the park. The Brown family was present for the meeting and discussed with the Board the moving of the memorial to a more central point in the new park. Also present was Dr. David Wright, one of the owners of The Pet Hospitals who gave the land for the park expansion to the City of Lakeland.
IH Park
Stanky Creek, a local bicycle club, commenced their work on the Yellow Trail. They will be filling in ruts and washed-out areas and adding drainage.
Eagle Scouts Joe Miller and Conner Koesterman with Troop 455 are at the fundraising stages of the work to the Yellow and Blue trails. They are both going to add new double-sided signage on 4×4 posts and remove where possible the old signage. In addition, Conner is going to add some small bridges to the washed-out areas on the Blue Trail.
Windward Slopes Park
Parks Director Kevin Rooney reported he had received quotes for windscreens for the tennis courts. Windscreens are a mesh that is attached to the fencing. They help prevent the wind from altering the course of the ball. There are many options from doing one side to doing all sides. The windscreens can be screen printed which would be a good upgrade. The cost of the project varies depending on how many sides are covered. Quotes are also being received for adding lighting and two more courts. The city owns the land on the west side of the Park. It would need to be cleared and graded prior to the construction of the courts.
There were no unusual trash, vandalism or police reports at any of Lakeland’s Parks this month. SCSO (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office) has increased patrols at all of Lakelands Parks.
Athletic Park.
Lakeland Parks and Recreation Department is still waiting to hear on the status of the LPRF (Local Parks and Recreation Fund) grant.
Recreation and Athletics
Football
Tackle – 47 – ages 7-10
Flag – 59 – ages 5-8
Cheerleading
Recreation program – 19 – ages 6-11
Competitive program – 13 – ages 6-11
Fall soccer registration is underway.
Competitive fall soccer is still looking for 2-3 boys and girls for their 2008/09 teams.
For more information about competitive soccer contact Alex Cifuentes at
834-1550 or ifasoccerclub@gmail.com
Visit the City of Lakeland website www.lakelandtn.gov for more info and to sign up for all programs.
LAMP Concert Series.
The second show of the series, Memphis Funk and Horns, was well attended and a fun night for all who attended.
Remaining concerts
July 28: Ghost Town Blues Band
August 25: Nick Black
Sept. 22: Bluff City Bandits – Lakeland Homecoming Night
Opening Band: Ted Horrell & The Monday Night Card.
Shakespeare in the Park is coming to the LAMP at IH Park, The Tennessee Shakespeare Company will be performing one the great bard’s plays Sept. 28.
The Tennessee Shakespeare Company, created in 2008 by Dan McCleary, is the Mid-South’s professional, 501(c) (3) theatre and education organization which performs the plays of William Shakespeare as well as other classical and Southern writers, and provides innovative year-round educational and training programming.
School of Rock will hold their annual concert at the LAMP again this year Sept. 30 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. They expect around 700 to attend throughout the day.
Mark Donley was not present for the meeting. His company, Barge Design Solutions, is bidding on some work for the City and he wanted there to be no appearance of a conflict of interest.
Lakeland Senior Center (LSC)
Attendance for June was 380. Over 70 attended the Stars and Stripes luncheon sponsored by Pop-a-Lock.
… Photo by Kim Odom, Lakeland Special Events Coordinator and LSC manager.
