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Dillingham volunteers dust off Parks and Rec program

February 17th 3:17 pm | Hannah Heimbuch Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

About a year ago, Patrick Walkinshaw and a number of other community members concerned with encouraging healthy activities for Dillingham residents started meeting.

"It soon became clear that in order to do anything we needed to have some sort of structure," Walkinshaw said.

The group approached the city and found the city code actually included a Parks and Recreation Commission. While the city budget still doesn't allow for a city-funded commission, said Mayor Alice Ruby, they were able to appoint the committee and give them an official functioning capacity.

"The committee was really a compromise that both the council and the group of citizens came to, to try to provide a forum working on parks and recreation interests," Ruby said. "The city feels pretty positive about having come up with a way to channel the energy and the interest that some of our citizens have expressed."

The lack of a fully-funded, official city department shouldn't stop people from organizing events for the entire community, Walkinshaw said.

"It makes sense to have an advocacy group for volunteers. It should be easy for people who have an idea to implement that idea in the community."

The seven-member committee, appointed in January and chaired by Walkinshaw, held its first meeting on Feb. 7 and will meet again every first Tuesday of the month.

They're looking to support and help coordinate existing activities, such as a volleyball and indoor soccer, as well as form new ones.

While the group is just beginning its formal meetings, the members are following several initial paths to give a jump-start to activity-based programs in Dillingham. That includes getting the city's outdoor ice rink to a state where it can be used

consistently.

The rink used to attract a lot more use, Walkinshaw said, but as hockey players grew up or moved away, the enthusiasm faded and rink maintenance has come to a standstill.

Part of getting the space back to a usable state will be finding those residents who know how to run the hot-mop system and passing along that knowledge — allowing a wider group of volunteers to be able to host open skates and games.

They'll also try to fund raise to support the electric bill for the warming hut and equipment maintenance, Walkinshaw said. He hopes the committee can provide a resource pool for residents who are interested in using city facilities and equipment like the rink, but haven't had anyone to contact about it in the past.

"There's lots of opportunities and equipment it's just a matter of getting more overall organization," Walkinshaw said.

For instance, the city owns a number of cross-country skis purchased through a diabetes program. One of the functions the committee can serve in that case is finding a volunteer to keep track of that equipment and facilitate community use of it.

The committee also discussed collecting and advertising information on local activities and similar interest categories — volleyball, cross-country skiing, yoga classes, etc. — and posting them on a Web site available to all residents. Ideally people will be able to reference a calendar of scheduled events, or simply make contact with others interested in the same recreational activities.

"We're trying to cultivate a database or knowledge base so that we can start figuring out what resources we have here and how we can support them," Walkinshaw said.

Right now the committee is encouraging people to use an online meet-up space, at http://www.meetup.com/Dillingham-Outdoor-Recreation, to post opportunities for group recreation. Whether your interest is in snowmachining, berry picking or cross-country skiing, the site can help people connect for regular outings.

The committee will sunset in December of 2013, at which point the council will revisit the issue and decide whether to reinstate it. Walkinshaw is optimistic that the group will remain functioning.

"The council has always been pretty clear that they see the value in those programs, they just couldn't see a way to fund them," he said. "There was an opportunity because there was a bunch of volunteers in the community willing to come forward."

The committee's meetings are open to the public, and the next one will take place March 6 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall. Items informally on the agenda at this point are public outreach possibilities and establishment of a cross-country skiing and running trail.

 

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