Community Corner
Dearborn Recreation Department Changes Scope of Summer Park Games
The free drop-in program will be available at 12 parks this year due to decreasing public participation.
The Dearborn Parks and Recreation Department's free drop-in park games program for area youths will return for the summer, however it will only be offered at 12 locations.
Greg Orner, director of Parks and Recreation, said the decision to scale back the program this year was due primarily to declining participation.
"We evaluate the program every year and make necessary changes where it makes sense," he said. "At some of our parks, the numbers aren't there to justify paying a playground attendant."
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Last year the program was offered at 16 parks, however Orner said in some locations attendance was down to an average of single digits during the week.
In contrast, the department's summer camp has seen record enrollment, he said.
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"The fee-based summer camp is doing very well," he said. "Perhaps families with two working parents may be interested in dropping their son or daughter off for the day rather than for a few hours at the park."
Orner said the change will have little effect on the department's budget.
"It's hard to tell right now how much money we will save because the drop-in program is lumped together with our summer camp as one budget line item. The summer camp has been so successful that our revenue exceeds expenditures and it helps subsidize our free programs," he said.
Orner said the department pays park attendants for four hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoom at a rate of $8 an hour to facilitate the drop-in park games.
Parks that will not be participating in the program this year include: Columbia Park, Edison Park, Oak Park, and Whitmore Park.
Participating parks include: Cherry Hill, Crowley Park, Dearborn High Tot Lot, Ford Woods, Levagood, Martha Myrtle, Oxford, Penn-Vassar, Rosalie, Schemansky, Summer-Stephens and Ten Eyck.
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