County crews readying parks for spring

Mike DonilaOur Town Outdoors

The weather is turning warmer and sports are getting hotter at the Knox County Parks and Recreation Department.

On the recreation side, basketball is wrapping up in roughly two weeks. But we have youth baseball and softball registration ongoing. And, adult softball registration begins March 1. We also are going to offer adult coed kickball this year at the Sportspark in Karns with registration also beginning March 1. Weekend tournaments, too, start in early March at the Sportspark.

Girls’ and boys’ lacrosse practices are ongoing at John Tarleton Park. Boys’ soccer is taking place now at Tommy Schumpert Park, and adult soccer will crank up Feb. 27 on Sundays and Wednesdays at Tommy Schumpert Park. Additionally, some of the recreation crew is working toward their lifeguard certifications to prepare for logroll events in the pools and at the Cove at Concord Park this summer.

As always, we need more part-time workers and umpires and scorekeepers. If interested, please contact Jennifer Gentry at 865-215-6600.

Speaking of the Sportspark, we have crews there now, fixing concrete areas in the walkways and adding seats and fixtures that will provide more shade.

Also, our mowing crews are busy tying fences down and getting ball fields ready to play.

Additionally, work continues on the Knox County Water Trail, a 44-mile stretch of navigable water along Beaver Creek that touches five communities between Clayton Park in Halls and Melton Hill Park in Hardin Valley.

“They’ve been out there on Beaver Creek cleaning the waterways, the jams and all that good stuff,” said Jason Haliburton, who is over the department’s maintenance crew.

Our one-man machine Frank Christian was at House Mountain earlier in the week, installing security cameras.

Our Concord Park crew has been pitching in around the county. They helped install posts and cables at the Ball Camp Park soccer fields and cut down a huge dead tree at the golf course.

The joys of tree destruction at Ball Camp Park.

“The tree was like six trees in one,” joked James Major, who oversees the Concord Park crew.

Major added that they have started work on the main fence at the new Beverly Dog Park this week and will probably need a few weeks to complete it. It’s going to require almost 1,100 feet of fencing. We do plan to have a ribbon cutting when it’s ready so that we can officially introduce it to the public.

Finally, I talked to parks and rec Senior Director Joe Mack (this guy is doing great), and he told me his folks are starting up a Youtube channel to further help promote the county and what they do as a department. Also, they recently started an Instagram page. Mack believes in the power of social media. In the past, we’ve stuck with Twitter and Facebook, which work well but he wants to take it another step. They plan to update the Youtube channel, which will highlight sports and some of the work conducted by the maintenance crew, several times a day once it’s up and running. More details soon!

Mike Donila is communications director for Knox County government

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