The Parks and Recreation/Natural Resources (P&R) Board met Tuesday (11.13.18) for a regular monthly meeting and set dates for two December events.
The date for the annual Christmas Festival will be at 6 p.m. Dec. 7th. Typically the event is at IH Park or the Clubhouse and features activities for children and a visit by Santa Claus.
On Dec. 1st, Lakeland will host a small Arbor Day celebration at IH Park to comply with the City’s Tree City USA application, according to Kevin Rooney, director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
He said the City is planning to plant a permanent Christmas tree at IH Park to eventually phase out the artificial tree the City puts up every year. Mr. Rooney also discussed the City’s Benchmarking Certification with the State expires at the end of the year. He is working on getting the Park’s Department recertified before the deadline.
Mr. Rooney gave the following reports on parks, athletics and the Lakeland Senior Center.
Parks
Zadie E. Kuehl Memorial Park
There were no unusual trash, vandalism or police reports at Zadie Kuehl Park. One of the solar lights is out, but the City is working to fix it. The City has also started installing new signage at the park, including the Boyd Foundation Dog Park Dash Grant signage. Another Boy Scout wants to commit his Eagle project to restore the fencing around the parking lot, and repairing the rock wall on the east side of the park.
Mr. Rooney gave an update on the $25,000 Shelby County grant. Application has been made for the grant and the City is waiting to hear about award information. He gave a brief presentation on a couple of dog parks he visited in town, and while at NRPA (National Recreation and Park Association) in Indiana. Mr. Rooney talked about the positives for those parks, and what has and has not worked for them. The Board discussed different amenity options for the Park and opened the floor for public discussion. The City hopes to have a better idea and timeline on construction in the near future.
IH Park
Two Eagle Scout projects on the yellow and blue trails have been completed. Joe Miller and Conor Koesterman are both Scouts from Troop 455. The boys posted new directional markers, mileage markers and corrected the trail rights-of-way. Connor also built a bridge over a wash-out area on the blue trail.
Shakespeare in the Park was a success with an estimate of 75 attendees. The City is hoping to partner with them in the future to put on more free Shakespeare shows in the Park. The School of Rock show was a success. Lastly, the final LAMP Concert was cancelled due to rain. The band was unavailable for the rain date in October, so they didn’t reschedule the show. The City will put out a survey to the public to gauge their interest on what they like about the shows and what bands they might want to see.
A couple of volunteers came forward to help build a disc golf course at IH Park. The volunteers believe they might be able fundraise to help cover the cost to build the course. Mr. Rooney will research the project and see if it would be beneficial for the Park.
Windward Slopes Park.
The City was awarded the USTA (United States Tennis Association) Grant for the full amount of $10,000. Mr. Rooney expects to start the resurfacing portion of the project soon as long as the weather cooperates. Other portions of the project will include new windscreens around the court, new net posts, new scoreboard for each court and a bench with a shade structure. The nets were replaced two years ago, and are still in good condition. A Boy Scout wants to dedicate his project to building shade structures over the two benches outside of the court. Public Works has cleaned up and trimmed the wetland in the Park. This was strictly a maintenance cleanup, and won’t affect the integrity of the protected wetland. One of the misters on the playground had to be removed due to damage, and the City would look into replacing it next spring.
Oak Ridge Park
The Heron’s Ridge HOA finished their installation of lights throughout the park. The City also installed new picnic tables at the pavilion. The City will continue working with the HOA to help improve the park and make it a destination for the residents.
Special Events
There was a large turnout at the Halloween Fest in October. It was estimated there were around 1,000 guests that attended the festival, with more who were unable to access the park. André Nolan, Board member, commented on the large turn out, and suggested that the great weather and low amount of activities on that day probably added to it. There was discussion about the Christmas Festival in December. Kim Odom is working hard to get everything ready for the event.
Athletics
Mr. Rooney provided updates on all recreation and sporting programs: tackle football, youth flag football and adult flag football have all finished. The Dolphins won the 7-8 year-old flag football league; the Mitey Mites (7-8 year-old) came in second in their championship game ending their undefeated season; the Pee Wees (9-10 year-old) won their championship game against Collierville finishing their season undefeated and unscored upon; and lastly the Maniax won the adult flag football championship.
The recreation cheer program has added a basketball cheer group due to high demand for another squad. They will be practicing with the rec program that started during the football season. The girls will be cheering at youth basketball games throughout the season. The competitive cheer program competed in their first event and had a great time. They have two more competitions in December and January.
Rec soccer concluded their season at the beginning of the month. They had an end-of-the year picnic to wrap everything up. The competitive program will run until the end of November.
The Junior Grizzlies basketball program has begun practices this month and will start games in December. All practices will be at St. Paul United Methodist Church, LES (Lakeland Elementary School) and LMPS (Lakeland Middle Preparatory School). The games will be at LES and the playoffs will be at LMPS. The City brought back the 4th grade competitive basketball team, and added a 5th grade competitive team. Both teams will compete in the Crosscheck league this season. All game schedules will be posted on the City’s website later this month.
Lastly, the fall tennis clinics concluded in October with 21 participants this fall.
Lakeland Senior Center (LSC)
Attendance at the LSC in September was 380 and October was 401. Ms. Odom believes they will surpass last year’s attendance numbers. She is planning the senior Christmas dinner for December 14th. Ms. Odom stated that the Senior Center has raised $1,014 through the craft fair and Christmas ornament sales.
