Another season of fun and games has come to an end as the Municipality of Cumberland’s summer recreation program concluded.
Most recreation programs wrapped up on Thursday, Aug. 24, while the soccer program in River Hebert concluded on Friday with several drills and a game in the age 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12 divisions.
These young soccer players in River Hebert got together for a fun game on Thursday, Aug. 23, as the Municipality of Cumberland's summer recreation program concluded for 2023. Darrell Cole - Municipality of Cumberland photo
“Overall, our programs went well, and we had another successful summer,” Municipality of Cumberland recreation programmer Nick Leopold said.
The municipality’s Recreation and Community Services Department ran seven weeks of programs on Monday to Thursday each week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Registration was strong in Springhill, Parrsboro and Pugwash. Leopold was especially happy with participation in Pugwash as it was the first year for the municipality to offer programming there.
Leopold said things went very well throughout the two months the programs ran with a strong team of 21 summer students leading the programs.
“Our soccer and OAP programs were packed full of fun and the kids had a blast participating in lots of game and crafts throughout the summer,” Leopold said.
The Municipality of Cumberland's summer recreation programs promoted physical activitiy as well as fun. The programs wrapped up in River Hebert on Friday, Aug. 25. Darrell Cole - Municipality of Cumberland photo
The Outdoor Adventure Program went very well with various themes, including Game Show Mania, Mickey & Minnie’s Summer Bash, Witches and Wizards, To Infinity and Beyond, the Great Outdoors, Crazy Einstein and Beach Blast.
He said the Timbits soccer program was well run by the leaders and focused on having fun and learning the basic skills of soccer. He said it was very popular in Springhill and Parrsboro and he’s hoping the program will grow even more in 2024.
The popup programs included various themes Springhill and Parrsboro with the tots program being most popular while other programs included sports, schoolyard games, outdoor adventures, tennis, girls’ empowerment, kids, seniors and adult programs.
There was also a strong partnership with Cumberland Schools Plus that saw two-day mini camps in five locations: Advocate Harbour, Northport, Wentworth and River Hebert. It’s the second year for this initiative that allowed recreation staff to connect with children in some more rural areas of the county.
Mini camps had good numbers for the most part, but attendance was down for some of the camps. Despite this, staff were able to easily adjust activities and everyone walked away with a positive experience.
“Everything ran great and even the smaller camps were packed with fun,” Leopold said of the camps held in Advocate Harbour, Wallace, Northport, Wentworth and River Hebert. “We look forward to welcoming even more participants into this exciting program, which is so valuable to the rural areas of the county, in 2024.”
This year's summer recreation programming within the Municipality of Cumberland was led by a dedicated group of 21 summer students, some of whom are shown with participants in Springhill earlier this summer. Contributed
Also successful were the roller rink in Parrsboro and T-ball in Springhill.
Leopold thanked the summer students who worked hard over the summer running the programs throughout the municipality.