Crafts, swimming and other activities for youth will once again be offered at Estevan鈥檚 Playparks this summer.
The parks will open for the season on June 29. Children will be able to enjoy crafts at all five parks 鈥� Hillcrest, Hillside, Churchill, Rusty Duce and Trojan 鈥� on weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Swimming will happen weekdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at all sites except for the Trojan park, because it doesn鈥檛 have a pool. 聽
All programs at the parks will be free. Children under the age of five must be accompanied by an adult.
A Saturday swim will happen from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at a different park each week, and there will be evening swims from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. twice each week.
Each week will have a different theme, covering such topics as a jungle safari, the circus, the sea, the Olympics, and pirates and princesses. Crafts and other activities will pertain to the theme.
Cassidy Reich is this year鈥檚 summer program co-ordinator. This is her first year of full-time involvement with the program, but she has several years of experience working for the City of Estevan.
She hopes to see lots of crafts, games and fun at the parks throughout the summer.
鈥淲e try to plan a lot of activities and special events, so that we get more people coming out to the playparks,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great place for the kids to be every day.鈥�
Play leaders are Allyson Haukeness (Hillcrest), Bailey Holzer (Hillside), Janay Marr (Churchill), Sharayah Moroz (Rusty Duce) and Karlee Ross (Trojan).聽
鈥淎lmost all of our girls are returning,鈥� said Reich. 鈥淲e have just one new play leader (Marr).鈥�
Several special events are also planned for this year. The first will be on Canada Day at the Hillside park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The playparks will team up with local Kinsmen and Kinette members to celebrate Canada鈥檚 148th birthday.聽
The annual PJ pancake breakfast is slated for 10 a.m. at the Rusty Duce Park on July 17.
New for this year is a swim with the fish event on Aug. 7 at 1 p.m. at the Churchill Playpark.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to get some goldfish 鈥� and we鈥檙e going to have them in water,鈥� said Reich. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to put chlorine in that day, obviously. And then people can come and they can take a fish home.鈥�
A movie night will happen at the Hillside Park in August, and the annual year-end carnival will be Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Hillcrest Park.
