Esterhazy excited about 7-week summer program and another busy summer at the pool!
June 21, 2019, 4:20 am
The town of Estehazy is excited to be offering a seven-week summer program called Beat the Heat this summer, and is also looking forward to another busy season at the D.A. MacKenzie Aquatic Centre.
Between the summer program and the pool, there should be no shortage of activities for kids in Esterhazy this summer!
“Our first week of Beat the Heat starts July 8 and it’s all about physical activity,” says Esterhazy Rec Director Brenda Redman. “The second week is about nature and what can we do with our hands. The third week is about volunteering. The fourth week is arts and culture. Week five is science and magic. Week six is a few of our favorite things, and week seven is a surprise!”
The summer program runs from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm from Monday to Friday each week. The cost is $25 per week, and children must register for a full week. Forms can be picked up at the Esterhazy town office.
Redman says the amount of activities planned this summer is tremendous.
“It goes from rock painting, to bird house building, activities like cross fit and dodgeball, pickle ball, yoga, bowling, swimming, going out to a green house, and then we’re having a reptile handler come out, games, tacos for lunch one afternoon, checking out Anytime Fitness, learning about fire fighting, weeding flower beds, a walk to the historical park, and spending time at the library every afternoon and interacting with their program. For arts and culture week we’re doing bracelets and making Chinese fans and making tacos and learning about painted African houses.
“For the week where we learn about science and magic, we’re going to make a volcano. And then a few of our favorites things will be whatever they enjoyed doing during this time. There is also an amazing race planned as part of it.”
Redman says the summer program has alwasy been a blast, but this year they were able to extend it and join forces with the library.
“I think they’ve always had an amazing program, but his year we received a grant and so we were able to extend it a bit further because of that.
“This is going to be a fun exciting learning adventure and it’s going to be jam packed, and the summer will be entertaining for the kids, and at the same time they’re going to learn quite a few neat things.”
Redman says this year’s summer program aims to help kids explore and learn about their very own town, and also introduce them to different cultures.
“Because it is such a variety of things, I wanted to bring in the aspect in of culture in town. I wanted to bring in the aspect of volunteering in town. I wanted to bring in what there is to do in town for physical activity. I really wanted it all focusing on what our town have to offer.
“So what can we do in town that makes it fun and exciting for kids. And especially from the cultural aspect, we have so many different ethnic backgrounds in our town, and I would really want them to come out and meet kids and learn about their culture and maybe get them more comfortable coming out to events. I believe in focusing on things like that, and not only about that, but what can we do with our hands and nature. I wanted to focus on things that we could do right here in town.
“That is how I went about applying for this grant. I thought what can we do right here in Esterhazy and what can we do to bring kids all different origins out and be interested and learn what there is here in town. There is so much, and with that we were able to work with the team at library.”
Redman says the program can take 16 kids in the mornings, but more are welcome to join them in the afternoons when they head over to the library for the programs there, as those programs are open to the public. Children must be between the ages of 5-12 years old.
She says there has been lots of interest in the program.
“We’ve had lots of people ask ‘when are you going to take registrations’ because of last year when they were involved they really enjoyed it,” she says.
Redman says they are also looking forward to another busy pool season in Esterhazy, with swimming lessons filling up fast and the pool being a bustling place since it opened on June 1.
The 25 x 10 meter pool includes a little slide and spray park.
“We do have some fun things going on at the pool,” she says. “We’re going to be doing some midnight swims, a pool toy day, a foam party, and we will do something special for Canada Day.
“We opened our pool on June 1. Swimming lessons started Monday, June 10, and we are jam packed and it’s been busy. We start with earlybird swimming at 6:30 in the morning and we close at 8:30 pm, and it’s a full day. It’s jam packed with swimming lessons, early bird swimming, lane swimming, and aquatone from 12-1 pm, and right now we have the schools coming in the afternoon for swimming, then we have our public swimming. Public swimming is from 6-8 pm during the week and then on weekends it’s 1-5 pm and 6-8:30 pm.
“People can still register for lessons, and there are spots in each session still available.”
