Orono Parks and Rec plays big role in community

ORONO – Orono Parks and Recreation has been around for quite some time, but director Norman Poirier isn’t sure exactly when the department became official.

“The records that I could find indicated that there was a part-time position in 1970,” Poirier said. Bruce Locke became the first full-time director in the late ’70s and then hired Ken Hanscom to replace him around 1983, when Locke took the position of town manager.

“I came on board in 1989,” said Poirier, who lives in Winterport and replaced Hanscom. At that time, the budget was $112,000 and revenue was about $14,000.

“Now our budget is approximately $284,000,” he said, adding that the revenue brought in is approximately $132,000.

“We’ve really closed the gap on our percentage,” Poirier said.

When Orono Parks and Recreation Department first opened, it provided mostly after-school activities, such as soccer, but there were no regularly scheduled games. Nor were there any child care programs, summer day camps or summer sports clinics, Poirier said.

Now all of these programs are in place, and the sports offered through the department have organized practices and regular games. Some 130 kids participate in the soccer program. Typically about 100 young people play youth basketball.

The after-school child care program for kindergarten through fifth-graders sees about 45 children per day, and is self-supporting. The children are walked from the elementary school at 3 p.m. each day to the Keith Anderson Community House. Arrangements are made with the Orono School Department to bus them when the weather is inclement. The program runs from 3 to 5:30 p.m.

On “mini-Wednesdays” – three Wednesdays per month when the children leave school at 1 p.m. – the program runs from 1 to 5:30 p.m. It also operates from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during vacations and school in-service days. The ratio of staff to children is one to 10, Poirier said. Students from the University of Maine often provide some of the part-time staffing for the after-school program.

A relatively new program, Orono Youth Football, is enjoying success, averaging about 66 children per year. Like the after-school program, Orono Youth Football is self-supporting.

Football is now in its third year, and no tax dollars were involved in starting the program, Poirier said, adding that it came about through help from fund-raisers and interested parents. Children in first and second grades who participate in the program play flag football. Third- and fourth-graders fully suit up to get the feel for all the equipment, but still play flag football. Sixth- and seventh-graders play tackle football.

A new afternoon chess club for those in second grade and older, the Checkmate Club, began Oct. 1 and will run through Nov. 12 at the Keith Anderson Community House. Instructional classes are held from 3:30 to 4 p.m., and casual challenges are from 4 to 5 p.m. The instructor is Joseph St. Pierre, who also coaches the Orono chess team.

The department also offers programs for adults, such as yoga, aerobics and karate. The department contracts with Downeast Fencing Club, a program in which about 60 people from elementary school age through adulthood participate. Other affiliates include Orono Arts Cafe, DADGAD Coffeehouse and Orono Community Theater.

In addition to providing recreational programs, the department takes care of all the flowers around the town. It maintains Webster Park on the river, about 18 acres of in-town property such as ball fields, islands and general areas, and roughly 90 acres of wilderness and trails, Poirier said. Orono Parks and Recreation works closely with Orono Land Trust, whose sole purpose is to see that conservation is made to that land and that public access is maintained, he said.

The department maintains three buildings: the Keith Anderson Community House; the Treadwell building at 19 Bennoch Road, which houses the recreation department; and a senior citizens center – known throughout town as the Old Birch Street School. Two rooms, a dining room and a game room are available to seniors. Lunch is served every day, provided by St. Joseph Hospital through Orono Housing Foundation.

“It’s wonderful food,” Poirier said, adding that it is very affordable, and that the hospital delivers if a senior citizen is unable to leave home.

The department also provides special events such as the recent Festival Day, Easter egg hunts and the family Valentine dance. A Halloween celebration will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, at the elementary school. The event is expected to feature such activities as cookie decorating, a costume parade, a bounce house, a haunted graveyard and other children’s games.

Reflecting on his own childhood, Poirier spoke of the spontaneous games he and other kids played, organizing themselves, picking their own teams and playing just for fun.

“You just don’t see that anymore,” he said. One of the reasons, he believes, is that peoples’ lives are so active and scheduled that spontaneous game playing doesn’t happen. He would like to see young people take advantage of ball fields and other recreational areas during off-times, as he and his friends used to do.

For information on Orono Parks and Recreation Department, call Norman Poirier at 866-5065.