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January 1, 2009 The Parks and Recreation Department is now located at the High School, 76 South Main Street, East Windsor, CT. 06088 (please use right side entrance door to access our department.) However our mailing address remains 11 Rye Street, Broad Brook, CT. 06016 |
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-Together Parks & Recreation Creates Better Communities-
The 2007-2008 fiscal year was business as usual for Parks and Recreation. Our parks were full of happy patrons and our programs have grown in many ways. Parks and Recreation is not only a way for people to exercise but our goals are to create a better community through collaboration and cooperation. We work with the school system, town agencies, and local businesses to bring you the best of the best when it comes to lifelong leisure activities. At Parks and Recreation we strive to create something for everyone.
Programming, park maintenance and beautification keep us extremely busy in and out of the park office. Our hard working staff of seasonal, part time and full time employees takes pride in the quality work that we provide for the residents of East Windsor. This year residents saw many upgrades to our parks and facilities. We were able to upgrade slides and see saws at both East Windsor and Prospect Hill Parks, as well as repairing all backstops at Osborn Field (Warehouse Point Park), Prospect Hill and East Windsor Park. Parking rails and a new stone wall were also completed at East Windsor Park. These minor changes make a huge difference in the aesthetics and safety compliance that we must adhere to.
East Windsor Park, located on Reservoir Avenue, is our main event location during the busy summer months. Not only is it home to our swim lessons, and men’s softball league, but also our Summer Fun in the Park and Tiny Tots Camps which hosted on average fifty children a day for seven weeks. Participants were able to take part in arts and crafts, field trips, and other planned themed events that our summer camp staff worked so hard to plan. In the end East Windsor Park served approximately one thousand two hundred and sixty children for the summer of 07-08. We look for this number to continue to rise in years to come. Our swim lessons also saw improvements with one hundred and forty six registrations this year. We strive to create a quality, safe summer program
lineup that allows East Windsor children to enjoy their time off from school.
The fall and winter months are no time for us to sit back and relax. Our Halloween Happenings and Annual Carol Sing with the Broad Brook Fire Department were successful events and allowed us to provide quality family events for the residents. This year we also created the First Annual Scarecrow Contest. This family themed event allowed residents to create a scarecrow of their themed choice in their own front yard. Judging for this event was no easy task but in the end Town Hall Employees had to make the tough decision. The winners of the First Annual Scarecrow Contest were: Third Place, Amy and Al Corkum. Second Place, Gaily Anderson Ho and First Place with a family of Scarecrows went to the Desmond Family. We look forward to many more creative entries next year.
This winter was also an exciting time for us with the donation of a Portable Ice Skating Rink donated by the East Windsor Girl Scout Troops 154 and 123. These girls received their Silver Award by fundraising, designing and even installing this newest amenity to Warehouse Point Park. The ribbon cutting ceremony and first skate was a huge success and we look forward to hosting many skaters for years to come. Thank you to the Girl Scouts of Troop 154 and 123 and their parents for their hard work and dedication to this project.
With winter passing by it was time to plan for the upcoming spring. This brought two enthusiastic groups to our Parks and Recreation Commission meetings. The first was the East Windsor Dog Owners Group. Their goal was to create a fully fenced in acre for dog owners to exercise and socialize their dogs in a safe environment. The other was the East Windsor BMX/Skateboard Park Committee, whose goal was to provide the youth of East Windsor with a 200X200 BMX/Skateboard Park where the kids would have a safe place to practice their sport. Both groups were extremely enthusiastic to get going on their proposed projects. But both had a common setback- where to put these parks? After looking at over 52 open space locations in East Windsor, everyone involved came to the consensus that
the Kogut Property located across from East Windsor Park would be a great central area that could host both parks. After a lot of hard work, presentations and planning, the final approvals were given to begin fundraising. Both groups hope to host numerous fundraisers throughout the year and look forward to raising their dollar goals.
The Parks and Recreation Department maintains approximately one hundred and fifteen acres of parks, fields and facilities. These include seven parks, the largest being East Windsor Park; other locations include Warehouse Point Park, Prospect Hill, Pierce Memorial, Broad Brook Pond, Abbe Road, and Volunteer Parks. These facilities, paired with maintaining the grounds and athletic fields at all East Windsor schools, keeps us extremely busy. Enough can not be said about the efforts of our full-time grounds supervisor, Keith Tetro. The outstanding work to keep the East Windsor Park, ball fields, and swimming area, and organizing his seasonal crew has made our parks and grounds as some residents have said – “Best in Show”.
The Parks and Recreation Commission is comprised of five members appointed by the Board of Selectmen and empowered to maintain, manage and regulate parks and playgrounds for both passive and active recreation. The Commission meets on the second Monday of the month at the East Windsor Town Hall Meeting Room at 7 P.M. All are welcome to attend.
While we had an exciting year of programming and park upgrading we look forward 2008 – 2009 to continue to provide the residents of East Windsor many exciting quality programs and facilities because “Together Parks and Recreation Creates Better Communities.”
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Green, Director of Parks and Recreation.
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