Town of Pittsford, Vermont

Recreation Director's Report
January 7, 2008

            On Friday, January 4, 2008, at the VT Police Academy, the Maclure Library and the Recreation Department cosponsored the first of three Family Fun Nights to be held this winter. The theme for this particular event was "Lost in Space" with approximately 105 people attending. The Maclure Library provided a handful of theme based arts & craft projects that children and their parents enjoyed constructing. The main attractions of the night were two bounce houses from Funny Business Entertainment, LLC. Why have two bounce houses one might ask? Well we do it for a couple different reasons, the most important one being for the overall safety of everyone; because of the large number of children that typically attend we like to have one house set up for the smaller and younger kids and a second house set up that's designed more for the older participants. This keeps a natural age separation to some degree that really works well for us. Two it makes economical sense to have a second apparatus because it does't cost that much more to have the second house brought in at the same time, since the contractor is already there. The Recreation Department provided other activities and games for the children to take part in, such as "Giant Connect Four, Checkers, Chess, & Dart Ball." I'd like to thank Ray Shortsleeves and Megan Bradley for helping the Recreation Department out. Having them present was a real time saver for me. When I have reliable help that I can count on it cuts my preparation & clean uptimes in half.

            Since early November the Recreation Department has been gearing up for the current basketball season for both the Recreation Department and Lothrop Elementary School. On Saturday, January 5, the Recreation Department's Youth Basketball program grades 1^st - 3^rd began. As expected, we had another large number register to play. Like last year I was able to separate the 1^st & 2^nd groups because there are so many kids at this age level. There are 17 1^st grade boys & girls playing this season. This team is being coached by myself, Tim Gallipo, and Ed Shannon. Dick Williams is in charge of the co-ed 2^nd grade group made up of 11 players. For the first time since I've been the Recreation Director the third grade teams had enough to form their own teams. The 3^rd grade boys team has 13 players and is being coached by Tim Gallipo & Isabelle Kingsley. The 3^rd grade girls team has 8 players, and is being coached by Lester Wall. The 4^th grade boys (who began practices in December rather January this season) have 8 players & are being coached Dennis Riesterer. The 4^th girls (started in December also) have 7 players and their coaches are Rick Hedding & Isabelle Kingsley. After practicing the entire month of December, the Lothrop 5/6 boys and girls teams have already began playing games. In all there are 10 different basketball teams with a total of 95 kids participating.

            I'm happy to report that the Recreation Department has scheduled two scrap booking programs during the month of January. Introduction to Scrap Booking will take place Thursday, January 10, 6:00 -7:30 pm at the Maclure Library. This class is especially for folks with little or no experience at all scrap booking who want to become familiar with this popular activity. Participants will be exposed to the best tools and shown the most effective ways to use them. Each individual who attends will be asked to bring three (3) pictures with them so they can make their scrapbook page using the tools and paper that will be provided. Based on the interest the Recreation Department has scheduled a Scrap Booking 2 program for Thursday, January 24, 6:00 -7:30 pm, again at the Maclure Library.

On Thursday, December 20 (luncheons normally are scheduled for the 4^th Thursday of the month), the Recreation Department and the "Pittsford Seniors" sponsored our monthly luncheon at the VT Police Academy. Over 37 people pre-registered and took advantage of this wonderful program. Chef Bob did an outstanding job preparing the roast beef & twice baked potatoes. Each luncheon features a keynote speaker. In December Joyce Horner led the group in singing Christmas carols. The luncheons are meant to give local seniors a nutritious meal at an affordable price ($4.00 for people 60 and older & $4.50 for everyone else) so they can get out socialize with neighbors and friends. The next monthly luncheon is scheduled for Thursday, January 24, 2008 @ 1:00 pm. The keynote speaker is going to be Christa Aleshire from the Southern VT. Council of Aging, she slated to discuss "At Home Care."

            On Thursday, January 17 @ 7:00 pm I have a meeting scheduled with the Pittsford Day Committee. Highlight of the meeting will be discussion of the 2008 date.

There has been some rumblings about moving the event later in the summer like to early August. Some members feel Pittsford Day might gain more support if it wasn't held on a holiday.

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