The Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department is gearing up to bring local residents a summer of fun with new programming and opportunities for everyone from youth to the elderly. Finding the staff to operate these programs, though, has proven difficult.
Recreation Services Manager Dennis Smitherman said that while the past year was challenging for his department, it also created time to reflect on what the community needs from Recreation and Parks.
“I think what we’ve done during this previous year is just reevaluated how we’re offering services. The public has let us know what’s most important in getting back to normal,” Smitherman said. “We are running a little more activities and programs, but not always in the traditional manner. We’re doing a lot more pop-ups in the park for youth and teens, more recreational swim in the pools.”
The department first started to roll out pop-up activities for youth at local parks in 2019, before the pandemic forced them to go on hold.
“People have been asking for more programs in the parks,” Smitherman said, because it gives parents a logistically easy option to keep their kids occupied and supervised.
“The difference between pop-ups and normal programming is there’s no set park each week, they pop around to parks in the city,” Smitherman said.
Recreation and Parks is looking to bring as many water activities as it can to the city’s 28 parks this summer, such as water balloon fights or building water rockets.
“[The rockets] provide a level of STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics] education,” Smitherman said. “But we also want to have fun, so water balloons are for that.”
A new program called Safe and Strong All Summer Long is already underway, and will continue Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., until Aug. 6 at various parks around the city. No registration is necessary for kids ages 6 to 12 to come and enjoy physical education and games.
Smitherman said the department is also putting on Summer Camp at the Cabin, a recreation-based camp for kids aged 6 to 12 that will be held mostly outdoors. The camp will run weekly until Aug. 6 at Buena Vista Park, with different themes each week, such as “out in space,” “all things nature,” and “Hawaiian luau.” It costs $60 per week for city residents and $72 for non-city residents, and registration is required.
In addition to outdoor programming, the city’s Elwin Mussell Senior Center is open again, as well as the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center.
“While they’re not running at 100 percent, they’re open,” Smitherman said. “Our teen center traditionally would run until 8 p.m. during the week and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, but due to staffing shortage, the teen center hours are now 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.”
Staffing is proving to be one of the largest hurdles for Recreation and Parks.
“We’ve been looking for good staff who want to help improve lives … but right now we’re just not able to recruit the quality staff we’re looking for,” Smitherman said. “Fifteen people apply but only two or three show up for the interview. It is a huge challenge this summer now that we’re ready to roll out programming.”
Despite these challenges, the department is still providing accessible summer fun to community members. Smitherman said the city had a recreational swim session on June 16, the first in more than a year.
“To walk out to the pool and see all these families and kids having a great time during the heat wave collectively made the department staff feel really good,” he said. “We have 28 beautiful parks, and people are using them all.”
The department is also ensuring that parks are accessible. The city announced that starting July 1, Recreation and Parks will give out 1,300 31-day bus passes to Santa Maria students in grades seven through 12 who can identify financial need. Students can apply at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“The Youth Adventure Pass is part of a Mayor’s Task Force on Youth Safety’s initiative to provide youth with transportation to recreation programming,” according to city officials, who added that $40,000 from the state’s Low Carbon Transit Operation Program made these passes possible.
Residents interested in Recreation and Parks programming can head to cityofsantamaria.org/city-government/departments/recreation-and-parks to learn more about this summer’s offerings.
This article appears in Jun 24 – Jul 1, 2021.