June is Parks and Recreation Month in Canada, when communities across the country will celebrate the different amenities that they have, and create awareness of how such facilities can improve your quality of life.
It鈥檚 no different here in Estevan; the city put out a press release earlier this week noting that the city has 33 parks, 11 playgrounds and 5 1/2 kilometres of pathways. The amount of pathways and the number of playgrounds might not surprise you, but 33 parks? There likely aren鈥檛 many in town who would have guessed it would be that high.
It goes to show how many recreation opportunities we have here, and how fortunate we are.
Over the past 15 months, we鈥檝e been spending a lot more time outdoors. After all, outdoor activity has been one of those things that鈥檚 been COVID safe. You haven鈥檛 seen many reports from the Saskatchewan Health Authority about COVID outbreaks at parks or playground structures.
You can run around in a park and climb a playground structure quite safely, and obey social distancing and all of the other phrases we鈥檝e been forced to adopt in the past 15 months.
At this time of year, with school out in less than two weeks, our thoughts turn more and more to outdoor recreation.
One of the initiatives that the city highlighted in its press release, and it should be celebrated every year, is the playpark program. Granted, for the second straight year, the Churchill Playpark won鈥檛 be open, and that will be a disappointment for residents who live in the south central and the southwest end of the city.
But the playparks should be a source of pride. Most weekdays during the summer months, they provide a supervised place for kids to go and enjoy a craft in the morning or a dip in a paddling pool on a hot summer afternoon. And they鈥檙e free. For so many in our community, you can鈥檛 underscore how important it is to have free programming for children several hours a day.
We鈥檝e seen a lot of effort taken by the city in the past few years to improve our parks. There were a number of sites that used to be lightning rods for criticism. And while there are still some that need improvement, we鈥檝e noticed a decrease in the number of complaints about parks in the past few years.
Recreation opportunities in the community are only going to get better.
The City of Estevan received funding earlier this year from the provincial and federal governments to add to the pathway system, which means we鈥檙e going to have a lot more than 5 1/2 kilometres of pathways in Estevan. This city will finally be connected through pathways and sidewalks.
We鈥檝e all seen more people using the city鈥檚 pathways since COVID-19 came to Saskatchewan. People have more time on their hands, so they鈥檝e been out more often. It鈥檚 one of the positives to emerge from the pandemic.
But Estevan has always been disjointed in its pathways system. You have some great pathways that provide some beautiful scenery, such as the one through Churchilll Park and into Cactus Park, the one through the Pleasantdale valley, and the one that connects south Estevan with Woodlawn Regional Park.
Now imagine how nice it will be to have pathways that bring all of Estevan together. If you鈥檙e really ambitious, set aside a couple of hours (or more) and walk the full loop once it鈥檚 finished. Your legs might be killing you by the time you鈥檙e finished, but the rest of your body will thank you.
And we鈥檙e finally going to see Kensington Avenue become pedestrian-friendly.
Sure it鈥檒l mean more money to be spent on pathway maintenance, but it鈥檒l be worth it.
The announcement about the funding for the pathway project was one of the best news items Estevan will receive this year.
It鈥檚 summer. Get out more. Exercise more. Enjoy the great outdoors. And recognize how fortunate we are to have the parks and recreation amenities we have in the community.
