Brewer Parks and Recreation Department going strong

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BREWER – It started out with T-ball and progressed to soccer. Then it was the summer program, and then the after-school program.

The Carr family in Brewer has spent many years participating in Brewer Parks and Recreation Department programs. Having fun is just one of the benefits to his three children, said Joe Carr.

“Their experiences have been so positive in many ways,” he said. “It has exposed them to the programs and people around them, which has made my children more well-rounded and more physically fit.”

Joe and Ellen Carr have lived in Brewer for 16 years. Their children – Brendan, 15, Colleen, 13, and Brian, 11 – have spent countless hours participating in all sorts of parks and recreation programs.

“This has been a great place to live, and the rec department is one of the reasons,” Carr said.

Parks and recreation has been a full-time department in Brewer since 1968. The department’s leaders recently took time to take a look back on the department’s history and reveal what residents can look forward to in the future.

“We’re into our 35th year as a full-time department,” said director Kenneth Hanscom. “Basically it was a summertime play-group program offered in the 1960s. Obviously they saw a need to grow the program and expand. The first full-time director was hired in 1968.”

The department started out with two full-time positions and now has seven.

Carr, who is employed as the spokesman for the University of Maine, said it’s these people who are the backbone of the operation.

“The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the program is the quality of people on the staff,” he said. “Consistently, they’ve been top-notch people who really care about the children.”

Everyone from Hanscom to the volunteers who help out should be acknowledged for their hard work, said Carr.

Hanscom said he likes to think of the program as a way to bring everyone in the community together.

“We feel active participation for all people is vital to promoting and maintaining good health and wellness,” said Hanscom. “Recreation and leisure activities positively impact mental health by reducing anxiety and stress, and by increasing self-esteem.”

Soon after the department’s inception, a summer basketball program began. A teen center was later added at the Brewer Auditorium, and the outdoor public pool was opened in the 1950s.

“As late as 1988, the city swimming pool was filled in June, and every two weeks that pool was drained, cleaned and refilled. Now we have a filter system,” said Hanscom. “We’re looking, in the next five or six years, to replace the outdoor pool.”

The projected cost of a new pool is around $800,000.

“We do see this as a need – a new, possibly indoor, facility,” said Michael Martin, recreation supervisor for the department. “Last summer we had roughly 10,500 [pool] users.”

Eighty-five to 90 programs are offered each year, said Martin.

“We’ve tried to get out of the traditional sports and offer a scrapbook of programs such as walking and baton [twirling],” he said. “We’ve tried arts and crafts to try and include everybody. We’re trying to make this a community center.”

The Brewer auditorium was constructed in 1939 at a cost of $77,000. The 2000 renovations of the building cost the city approximately $700,000.

“This place is the heartbeat of the community,” said Hanscom.

The building is open an average of 90 to 95 hours a week during the winter, and some 60 hours during the summer. Several organizations call the building home, including the American Legion, Brewer Garden Club, Brewer Senior Citizens, Brewer Youth Sports and the Brewer Hometown Band.

In the last decade the goals of the Parks and Recreation Department have changed, Martin said.

“Ten years ago we started the Winter Walkers, and started a lifetime strategy for health,” he said. “Prior to 1992 there wasn’t a senior citizen that even came to the building. We’ve gone from no seniors to now having 60 or more participate in the Winter Walkers program.

Martin said 40 or so senior citizens are enrolled in the Adult Exercise Program, run by Ann Cyr, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m.

The Providing a Lifetime of Recreation logo and theory were implemented in Brewer in the late 1990s.

Years ago all it took was a love of children and desire to volunteer to help out with Brewer recreation programs. Today “it has become quite training-intensive,” said Hanscom.

Volunteers now are required to be prolific in CPR and first aid, to recognize child abuse and to understand blood-born pathogens and how they are transmitted.

“We’re responsible for training those 11th- and 12th-graders and college age [personnel],” said Hanscom. “Everybody goes through a background check and we require drug screening.”

“The real meat of that is to offer quality,” said Martin. “We try to make sure people have an enjoyable experience. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of.”

There is one issue the parks and recreation leadership is grappling with, and that is how to handle the increased need for after school and summer childcare.

“This year they were in line at 4:30 a.m. for the 8 a.m. Aug. 1 registration for after school child care,” said Hanscom. “For our K through five [program], our waiting list is 35.”

“There were more people standing in line than there were openings,” said Martin.

A similar situation occurs during registration for the two summer day camps the city offers. The problem is space, said Hanscom.

Eventually, the Parks and Recreation Department is going to need a new building, said Martin.

“We’re starting to look at where we need to grow,” he said. “We’ve maxed out the building. We know we’re going to need more space for programs.”

Another huge change was making the recreation programs inclusive and accessible to the handicapped.

For the parks portion of the department, the city has invested a lot of money in improving the 20-plus parks in town.

In 2000 the city invested $58,000 to build a community playground, and spent $65,000 installing lights at the Brewer High School athletic fields and $10,000 improving the Fling Street playground. Two new basketball courts were built in 1994 and $500,000 was spent removing junk and renovating Maple Street Park.

“Now we have a beautiful facility with basketball, softball and a one-third mile walking trail that people use until the snow flies,” Hanscom said.

The park improvements also increased property values in the area. The parks department maintains the athletic field for the school department and in 1986 took on the job of maintaining the city’s three cemeteries.

In recent years the town has started to work on redeveloping its riverfront. Part of the Penobscot Riverfront Landing project includes a new children’s garden, which was obtained through a $50,000 federal Land and Conservation Fund matching grant.

A walking trail that runs the distance of the city between the three bridges is part of the riverfront project, which the Parks and Recreation Department will maintain.

“It’s going to make for a healthier community, and physical health will improve,” said Hanscom.

“It also will help tie the community together,” said Martin.

“Volunteers have been very important to our program -along with local business-sponsored programs,” Hanscom said.

Upcoming activities at Brewer Parks and Recreation include:

. Ice skating, 10-11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30, at the Washington Street School and Doyle Field skating rinks. Hockey pucks and sticks are not allowed at those facilities, but are allowed at the Pendleton Street rink. Free to Brewer residents, $2 for others.

. Candy Gingerbread Houses, 10 a.m.-noon, Monday, Dec. 22, Brewer Auditorium. The program is for children ages 6 to 12. The cost is $6 for residents, $12 for others. Preregistration is required. Participants will be provided with all supplies to make houses out of graham crackers and candies.

To learn more about Brewer Parks and Recreation programs, call 989-5199.