PRSSR 07-09-2025 Packet (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memorandum To: Parks and Recreation Commission From: Jeff Shelby, Parks and Recreation Manager Date: July 9, 2025 Subject: Parks and Recreation Staff Report Senior Activity Center As of June 24, 2025, the Senior Activity Center has 533 members. Our average daily attendance is 71, which is higher than it was last year at this point in the year. This month’s program highlights included live music by Diane Zilberberg accompanied by refreshing root beer floats, a scenic boat trip on the Mississippi River, and a fun presentation and trivia session about the Beatles. Our two new front desk volunteers started this month, and they’ve already been a wonderful help to our team. Story Stroll Kick Off The first kickoff event was held on Tuesday, June 17 at Lion John Weicht Park showcasing the bilingual book, Searching for Habitat. This free event saw steady attendance and event attendees enjoyed a presentation from Sherburne Soil and Water District on pollinators, made pinecone bird feeds, and enjoyed free popsicles. Great River Regional Library - Elk River staff and volunteers were present to assist with the activities on site. Popsicles with Public Safety Orono Park had over 500 kids attend Popsicles with Public Safety on Tuesday, June 17. Kids were able to explore vehicles from Police, Fire, and ERMU while enjoying free popsicles provided by Jonny Pops. Police reserves provided free child ID kits too. Sports/Programs We hosted the Twins Playball baseball clinic on Saturday, June 28 at Lion John Weicht Park. This event was free to attend for ages 6-12. We had great participation from the community and 150 registered for the event. A special thank you to our friends at Geared Up Apparel for sponsoring a meal for all participants! Each child received a hotdog, Gatorade, and chips! Summer programs have been running very smoothly thanks to our Summer Intern Taylor. The USSSA Top Tier Summer State Fastpitch Softball tournament is this weekend at the PT Complex. We anticipate over 1,500 people at the complex. We then have softball for the next two weekends at the PT Complex, a 2-week break, and then tournaments every weekend through October 5. Field use remains very busy on a daily basis with almost all 17 fields needing to be prepped every day. This can be a concern for fields to be overused and not gaining sufficient rest periods and will be monitored closely. This utilization trend does support the need for additional facilities as detailed in the Athletic Facilities Framework Plan. Page 15 of 26