It didn’t take long for kids to find out the temporary fencing around the Kyle Syrenne skate park in Martensville was removed.
“The skate park opened yesterday,” said Martensville Recreation and Community Services Director Ted Schaeffer in an interview June 9. “Once the province raised the limit on outdoor gatherings to 30 people, that effectively allowed the city to open the facility.
“But one of the challenges will be to keep within the provincial guidelines.”
Schaeffer said the city posted physical distancing and hygiene rules at entrances to the skate park, adding the public is encouraged to follow those regulations to protect their own and others’ health.
The Martensville skate park opening took place four days ahead of a province-wide move to allow the use of outdoor recreational facilities.
The Warman skate park is set to reopen on Friday, June 12, the same day that playgrounds are given the green light to welcome kids back.
“We’re very excited to get back to business,” said Warman Recreation and Community Services Manager Paul McGonigal in an interview June 9. “We build these facilities for people to enjoy, and when we were forced to close them it was a pretty sad day.”
McGonigal said the reopening of parks and playgrounds will create some challenges with staffing. Cleaning and sanitizing of play equipment will be done as often as possible, but people using the facilities will have to follow physical distancing guidelines and hygiene rules to ensure safety.
“We’re a little shorthanded within the parks department right now,” said McGonigal. “When the Legends Centre closed we lost a lot of revenue from rentals and user groups, so that meant we had to lay off 20 full and part-time staff. We’ve also not been able to hire any summer staff to keep the outdoor parks maintained. Usually we hire about 40 students, but this year we didn’t hire any.”
Parks staff were redeployed to other areas as needed in order to keep costs down, said McGonigal.
He said the parks department managers had no advance notice of the reopening.
“We found out the same time as the general public,” said McGonigal. “We’re working hard to have everything ready on Friday, and at the same time trying to control costs and meet everyone’s expectations.”
McGonigal said it’s important that parents understand the risks and not have unrealistic expectations. Even though playgrounds are open, the city doesn’t have the staffing resources to sanitize equipment or enforce physical distancing rules.
“The expectation that the city will clean up after your child is unrealistic,” said McGonigal. “Everyone should wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after using the equipment.”
Schaeffer said it’s the same situation in Martensville.
“We don’t have the staff resources to be able to wash down playground equipment on a continuous basis,” said Schaeffer. “We’ll make sure everything is in good order and sanitize as much as possible, but it’s up to the public to follow the rules.”
While Martensville didn’t lay off any staff in the parks department, there was a freeze on hiring summer students. The city’s aquatic centre manager was hired but the position is currently on hold because of the uncertainty about whether the facility will open.
The washrooms at the Warman skate park and at Warman Lions Park will be opened on Friday, Martensville does not have permanent washrooms at its facilities.
Facilities such as ball diamonds, the Diamond BMX track in Warman, and soccer pitches are available for recreational use but not for organized team sports or racing events.