Uniontown to open recreation program at 5 parks on Monday
Uniontown’s summer recreation program will start Monday, with the official opening of five of the city’s six parks. Bailey, Albright, Ben Franklin, Lafayette and Grant Street parks will be open Monday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m., said Harold Bell, recreation department director.
Coal Lick Run Park will not open this year and will not be supervised. Bell said the decision not to open the park was made because equipment at the park is old needs updated or replaced. A fire damaged the pavilion there.
The summer lunch program for city youth will start Tuesday and run from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the five parks. Bell said the North Fayette Area Vocational Technical School is sponsoring the program and will prepare and deliver the food and drinks.
While the baseball program at Bailey Park is up and running, two new programs and two field trips are also being planned.
Bell, who is also a captain in the Uniontown Fire Department, said basketball and cheerleading camps have been added to the summer program. “That’s what’s new this summer,” Bell said.
He said the camps will start in late June or early July and run for four to five weeks, but the specific dates have not yet been set. Other details have not yet been worked out. The camps will be advertised in the newspaper and notices about them will be posted at the playgrounds. Scott Winfrey, a former Red Raider who is now a senior at the University of Pittsburgh’s Greensburg campus, will coach the basketball camp. Ryann Over, a senior cheerleader at Uniontown Area High School, will run the cheerleading camp, with Megan George, another high school cheerleader, assisting.
Bell said the types of activities at the camps will be determined by the ages of those who sign up.
Field trips to Idlewild Park in Ligonier on Aug. 5 and to Woodland Zoo in Wharton Township are also on the summer agenda. The date of the trip to the zoo has not yet been set, but Bell said it will be sometime after July 4.