Recreation is the name of the game

Recreation usually equates to fun, but it can also take a lot of hard work. Just look around at our different towns in the Harlem Valley.

When one takes a glance at Millerton, the recreation program there also shines as an example of good leadership and strong support from the municipal government. Recreation Director Jenn Parks is a veteran. She has been doing her job for many years, and consistently delivers the village of Millerton and the town of North East a summer program that all can be proud of. She runs the day camp, the pool, the playground (one of the only handicap accessible playgrounds in the region) and supervises the whole of Eddie Collins Memorial Park with a keen eye and superb sense of priorities, fairness and responsibility.

Parks also keeps the Village Board updated on a regular basis about what’s happening in her department, what can be improved, what is going well, how to save money and what needs funding — all issues she’s become an expert on during her time as a department head.

But at the end of the day, maybe one of the most important and impressive things about her is the fact that Parks clearly likes what she does. She is in her element when working with her staff members and the children enrolled in the recreation program, and that makes all the difference in the world when the village struggles to pay for things like a new splash pad at the pool, or more ramps at the skateboard park.

What Millerton doesn’t have in equipment or funding it surely makes up for in personnel, and Parks tops that list with high marks. Her creativity lends to projects like “Chalk it Up,� during which campers used colorful chalk to draw original artwork on the sidewalks of Millerton — a unique way to decorate the village while spending nearly nothing except energy and imagination. The kids and their families love it, the shop owners love it, visitors love it. It’s just one more example of Park’s ability to think outside the box and deliver a good time to those fortunate enough to have her as their recreation director.

Meanwhile, in Amenia, Tom Werner heads up the Recreation Committee. Although there’s no defined program to mimic those like the ones in Millerton and Pine Plans, Amenia does have some recreational perks.

It has Beekman Park, where a lot of work has been done to provide a new playground (although some say too much money was spent for such an “under whelming� playground). It also has a recently built concession stand to go along with a newly blacktopped walkway and new batting cages. The fields are also in prime shape. There are the baseball, softball and T-ball programs, along with the Amenia Monarchs, all of which make use of the fields and please the local fans and participants.

Then there are the dance program and tae kwon do classes, which the town offers to its residents.

An extended Rail Trail to the Wassaic Metro-North station pleased many, and the planned extension into the hamlet of Wassaic will excite even more people. Once there, the Wassaic park upgrades can be enjoyed by all who visit.

So the Recreation Committee has been busy, with Werner leading the way. His committee members also do their part to support efforts to bring as much as they can to the citizens of Amenia, not always the easiest of tasks.

Certainly the town of Pine Plains also has something to cheer about in its recreation director, Jennifer Chase. She took over the position this year and has really brought new life into the Recreation Department with some fresh ideas, tons of energy, evident caring and tenacious follow-through that apparently was just what the town needed.

In late July Chase informed the board that the town’s summer camp has more than 50 campers enrolled — a record for the summer program. Likewise, things are hopping at the beach, where swimmers and sun worshippers alike head for fun in the sun, as well as arts and crafts, sand-building contests, petting zoos, volleyball, etc.

Then there are the ball fields. They’re always busy. Those fields are scheduled and maintained by Chase and her crew, no small feat in such a baseball- and softball-loving town as Pine Plains. At this very moment the recreation director is examining what programs the town runs, what it wants, what it needs and what its five-year plan is, all in hopes of becoming more efficient. Then she wants to reexamine the practice of paying for the privilege of using the fields at the high school, something the town would like to discontinue. There was consensus from the Town Board on that issue and from Chase, who wants to reconfigure the municipality’s offerings so they’re more streamlined and efficient. That will make it easier to offer programs on home turf, so to speak, and keep the profits in house.

Chase has got some bright ideas, and she’s working hard to pursue them. In May, Chase approached the board with two others about holding a triathlon in town in 2010. Such an event has never been undertaken by the town, but it’s a great idea that can really turn into an annual success, if done right.

The success of the Pine Plans Rec. Program is due, in large part, to Chase and to the Town Board that gives her the freedom to run the program in the manner that she sees fit.

The bottom line is this — our towns are working hard to bring recreation options to us — and for that we should be appreciative. If there’s more you want to see,  however, get involved. Drop off your suggestions at your town hall, or attend a recreation committee meeting and speak up. It’s the best way to express your ideas and pursue them until they hopefully come to fruition. Go on, give it a try, if for nothing else do so just for the fun of it.