Town of Pittsford, Vermont

Recreation Director's Report 

March 11, 2008

            As spring quickly approaches us the Recreation Department has stayed busy running programs, recruiting baseball & softball coaches, and organizing summer activities.

On Saturday, February 16, 2008, the Pittsford Recreation Department and the Maclure Library hosted our "Winter Wonderland" Family Fun Night, at the Vermont Police Academy. This event was originally scheduled for Friday, February 1, but a nasty sleet and freezing rain event made for hazardous driving conditions that night forcing us to postpone it. In the past when this type of situation came up we simply cancelled the event. However over the years the Family Fun Nights have become so popular that Bonnie and I feel that we owe it to the families who regularly attend every event to try and reschedule them. Over eighty-six people attended this event targeted for local families with children in the third grade and younger. The Maclure Library supplied many wonderful art & craft projects. Children really enjoyed constructing a 4' tall snowman out of chicken wire and tissue paper. The Recreation Department provided an obstacle course that kids had to crawl, run, and jump through that helped burn-off some of their built up energy.

On Wednesday, February 20, the Recreation Department sponsored a School Break Fun Day program. From time to the time usually during school vacations the Recreation Department sponsors fun and exciting field trips in order to get children out of the house to engage in some social interaction and to participate in some type of physical activity. We had 30 (1^st - 6^th grade) who went "indoor rock climbing" with us at the Green Mountain Climbing Center in the morning. After lunch, the group enjoyed an afternoon of swimming in the Mitchell Therapy Pool at VAC.

            On Saturday, March 1, 2008 the Pittsford Recreation Department in conjunction with the Pittsford Trails Committee sponsored our sixth annual Winter Celebration at the Caldwell Trail. Participants of all ages were invited to get outdoors and enjoy an afternoon of exercise and fun with their family and friends. Participants were able to take a guided or unguided tour on cross country skis or snowshoes through the meadows that meander along Otter Creek and Furnace Brook. There was sledding available for the kids (and the kids at heart). Folks enjoyed free hot dogs, brownies, and hot chocolate while standing next to the bonfire to keep warm. Good advertising and fantastic snow contributed to a record crowd of over 125 people attending. The parking lot was full and vehicles had to park along the side of the Elm Street. There was a huge turnout of Pittsford families who mostly went sledding and there was just t as many people who attended to ski & snowshoe. I'd like to recognize the local businesses that contributed to this event, the Great Outdoors Trading Company for providing "demo" snow shoes for people to try, Kamuda's Market for supplying the delicious desserts, Keith's Country Store who provided the hot dogs & hot chocolate, and finally to Winning Image Graphix who helped with the general set-up and tear down of the event.

            On Sunday, March 3, 2008 the Recreation Department began a new ski & snowboard program at the Middlebury Snow Bowl. Twenty four students of various ages and skill levels are participating in this four week program. Students are divided in small groups based on skill level and each week will receive a one hour lesson from a Snow Bowl instructor. After each class the students have 2 hours to ski or ride. The kids that demonstrate that they are chair lift ready to their instructors are given passes which allows them to ride a lift up and work on refining the skills they have learned as they descend the mountain. The remaining students, or beginners, continue to practice their stopping and turning in the "Discovery Zone" (a.k.a. bunny slope). The past two Sundays I and two other dads, Mr. Hudson & Mr. Young, have worked with these particular kids to help with their progress. It's amazing how far these kids have come in just two lessons. The goal for everyone is that by the end of the four weeks that each and every child will be proficient enough to ride a chairlift up the mountain and ski or ride down a beginner trail in a controlled manner. The Snow Bowl instructors have been real professional working with our group. They a great deal of knowledge and are able to pass that on to our skiers & riders.

                        The Pittsford Day Committee members meant on last Thursday, March 6 to continue planning for the 2008 summer event. This meeting went much better than the last one in February. New member Jenny Parker joined us for the first time and she provided a fresh prospective. Jenny ideas seemed to recharged the other members with enthusiasm and it was a very productive night. Like I reported last month the Pittsford Day Committee all agreed that, for this year we should not hold the event on the first Sunday of July, as in the past three years, because the first Sunday will be July 6 and by then everyone is going to be tired from the other events happening throughout the holiday. With that in mind we decided to schedule it for Saturday, June 28, 12:00 noon - 6 pm and advertise it as a "KICK-OFF SUMMER BLOWOUT-FOURTH of JULY" EVENT.

            On Friday, March 7, 2008 the Pittsford Recreation Department and the Maclure Library hosted our third and final Family Fun Night of the year "Medieval Knights," at the Vermont Police Academy. Fortunately another ice storm held off long enough not to hinder our fun night participation. Over one hundred and twenty five people attended this highly anticipated event targeted for local families with children in the third grade and younger. Many new families with children were present on this particular evening for the first time. The Maclure Library again supplied many wonderful art & craft projects. Children particularly enjoyed creating their own princess crowns, wizard hats, magical wands, and delightful shields. The Maclure Library also provided enough brand new books for each child to bring home a keep. The Recreation Department provided plenty of activities for children to burn up their "cabin fever." Children always like using the hula-hoops, bounce balls, playing air hockey and climbing through our tunnels and pop-up tents, but quite frankly what kids always enjoy most is being able to play with their friends. I'd like to thank Rob Ketcham who agreed to help out after I lost both of my usual assistants earlier in the day. I had only asked him to aid me with the set up, which he did, but he also stayed though out the entire event and then helped pick everything at the end of the night.

Another session of Kripalu Yoga began on Monday, March 10, 2008. This is fourth consecutive winter that the Recreation Department has offered this particular program. Similar to the trend we've seen in past years the March session has produced the most interest so far. The program is taking place on five Monday evenings, 3/10-4/7, 7:00 - 8:00 pm in the Lothrop Gym.

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