In The News:

Construction work on the

two I-485 bridges that pass

over Lower McAlpine Creek

and McMullen Creek green-

ways will cause sections of

both trails to close periodi-

cally over the next year.

The section of McMullen

Creek Greenway underneath

the I-485 bridge will close

beginning Monday, May 13,

and will remained closed

through the rest of the year.

It will reopen in early 2014.

The section of Lower McAl-

pine Creek Greenway under

the I-485 bridge will close

later this month and will re-

main closed through early

summer 2014.

Greenway visitors can fol-

low detour signs along low

volume roads to continue on

the greenway and use

nearby Four Mile Creek

Greenway during trail clo-

sures. Detours will be

signed by NCDOT.

Park and Recreation— Park News

this issue

Park News P.1

Enterprise Services P.2

Horticulture P.4

Community & Recreation Center Services P.6

V o l u m e 2 I S S U E

M a y 2 4 2 0 1 3

19 WEEKLY

NEWSLETTER OF THE

PARK AND RECREATION

DEPARTMENT FridayFridayLetterLetter THE

Aquatic Team Gears Up for Summer with Annual Summer Kick Off Event Sunday evening May 19th at Ray's Splash Planet near 80 full and part time Aquatic staff came together to review policies, procedures and more importantly Have FUN! This training event is designed to get all lifeguards and recreation assistants together with the full time team and prepare for the summer season ahead. Director Jim Garges and Division Director James Alsop along with the Aquatic Supervisors head off the event with introductions and discussion. Afterwards, the team broke out into groups to re-view and retrain staff on customer service and safety. At the end of the evening all part time staff were treated with a cook out and the opportunity to put ANY Aquatic supervisor in the DUNK TANK! All nine aquatic managers had the luxury of taking a dip!

Tournaments & Adult Athletics Powerade Games of NC The Powerade State Games Youth and Adult Soccer Tournaments will be held on June 22nd-23rd. The deadline to register your team is tomorrow. Don't miss your chance to participate in the soccer tournament of the summer! Visit the SOCCER PAGE for regis-tration information and to sign up today Other Registration Deadlines Approaching Quickly! Many of our other team sports are filling up fast and registration deadlines will be here in the next week or two:

Youth & Adult Ice Hockey - May 31st Youth & Adult Lacrosse - June 7th Boys & Girls High School Basketball - June 7th Ultimate - June 14th

Aquatics News

The Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center hosted the 16th Annual Rodney’s Great Kids Triathlon on Saturday May 18th from 8:00am – 11:30am. Ninety-four (94) in-credible children participated in the event. Participants swam, biked, and ran to complete the event. Children between the ages of 6 - 16 years of age partici-pated. Both the bike and run took part around Marshall Park.

In The News:

Park and Rec Hosts Free

Golf Classic for Veterans

and Active Duty Military

All military veterans

(including National Guard

and Reserves) and active

duty military personnel are

invited to sign-up to play in

the 8th annual Veterans &

Reservists Golf Classic at

Sunset Hills Golf Course,

800 Radio Road, on June 27,

2013. This event features a

free round of golf on a fine

course plus lunch provided

by Texas Land & Cattle

Steak House at no charge

for those who qualify to

play.

The Golf Classic is pre-

sented by Mecklenburg

County Park and Recreation

Department and Mecklen-

burg County Community

Support Services-Veterans

Services Division to show

appreciation to men and

women who serve and have

served our country in the

armed forces.

16th Annual Rodney’s Great Kids Triathlon, - May 18, 2013

Did You Know ~ Rodney’s Great Kids Triathlon Rodney's Great Kids Tri-athlon (RGKT) on its 16th year, is a fun, challeng-ing, annual event for chil-dren (17 and under) chal-lenging themselves in swimming, biking, and running. Ages and Race Distances 8 and under - 100 yard swim, .7 bike, .7 run 9 - 10 - 100 yard swim, 1.4 bike, .7 run 11 - 12 - 200 yard swim, 2.8 bike, 1.4 run 13 - 14 - 200 yard swim, 2.8 bike, 1.4 run 15 - 17 - 400 yard swim, 5.6 bike, 2.8 run Click here to visit the RGKT Triathlon webpage for additional details.

Aquatics News—Scenes from Events

Youth receive congratulatory

hugs from Mecklenburg

County Park and Rec

Rodney Sellars

Pictured left and right—

a young citizen

athletes competes for

recreation.

What’s the Horticulture Team Been Up To - Partnerships: With Charlotte Housing Authority and McColl Visual Arts creating an environmentally sound and very functional Native Plants’ Garden at Anita Stroud Park.

...With Center City Partners (below) ac-quiring trees for new Third Ward Park and the Frazier Dog Park.

For more information on Horticulture and volunteer opportunities, call Tim Turton at 704-336-8840.

Horticulture News: Partnership Updates Internal County Partner-ships with Enterprise and Real Estate Services helped to finance Hort in-house design and install of a brand new landscape at St. Mary’s Chapel.

And with CMPD and many others to develop the Offi-cer Sean Clark Memorial Garden at Blythe Landing Park.

Horticulture: Memorial Tree, Brick & Bench Pro-gram

Make a gift in honor of a loved one, organization or event by dedicating a tree or brick in a park, green-way or nature preserve (natives only in the pre-serves). The gift represents a lasting tribute as it grows and flourishes for years to come. Trees are an impor-tant resource, offering habitat, oxygen and beauty. ___________________

...and with partner-ships with many of our patrons, fulfill-ing their Memorial wishes.

More Update on Horticulture Partnerships— Carolinas’ Healthcare System volunteers to beautify the Little Sugar Creek Greenway . (pictured in order below)

As a member of the TreeCharlotte collaborative, planting new trees at Shuffletown and Southside Parks at no cost to the County.

With our friends at the City of Charlotte, partnering to add much needed trees at Flat Branch and Mallard Creek Parks at no cost to the County.

Also, partnerships with several Recreation Centers and the fine carpentry work of the North County Jail inmates to de-velop gardening programs like Lil’ Sprouts and expose the children to Going Green!

iMatter Girl’s Empowerment Summit @ Naomi Drenan Recreation Center The first “iMatter Girl’s Empowerment Summit” was held at Naomi Drenan Recreation Center. Many young women ages 12 to 18 attended this spectacular event which featured guest speakers, breakout sessions, and performances. This special event capi-talized on the virtue of being a woman and how important it is for young girls to carry themselves as powerful influ-ences in their communities and in to-day’s society.

Naomi Drenan Recreation Center

For more information about this and other programs/events, contact Nao-miDrenanRecreationCenter @MecklnburgCountyNC.gov or call 704.432.5231.

Sugaw Creek Recreation Center MLB Pitch, Hit & Run (Cont’d) Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department thanks Dylan for his participation and wishes him luck as he has the chance to represent our area in Atlanta at the team competition and in New York at the MLB All-Star Game. Dylan is a switch-hitting short stop from Concord, North Carolina. He has 8 homeruns this year and has a batting aver-age over .500. For more information, contact Brett.Krizanik@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Recreational News from Mecklenburg Communities

Sugaw Creek Rec-reation Center MLB Pitch, Hit & Run Dylan Koontz, a local win-ner at the Sugaw Creek Recreation Center MLB Pitch, Hit & Run event in April, was a sectional quali-fier this past weekend in Belmont, North Carolina. Dylan scored a 924 in Bel-mont, increasing his score by 210 points from his per-formance at Sugaw Creek! The Pitch, Hit and Run competition is based off three events that are given a score: hitting for distance/accuracy, pitching to a strike zone target (scoring points for every strike) and a timed run from second to home.

Story continued at left

Beneficial Programming. Developing Character. Enriching Lives.

Baseball and Disc Golf reach Mid-season in Full Stride: The 2013 Youth Baseball and Inaugural 2013 Youth Disc Golf Leagues have both reached week 4 of their 8 week Regular Sea-sons. 705 Participants from 46 Youth Baseball Teams (Countywide) and 31 Youth Disc Golf League Partici-pants (2 Regions – North @ Reedy Creek Park and South @ Elon Park) have found their stride and will begin the second half of their seasons this Saturday at 7 different parks throughout the County. Both programs will run through early June and conclude following their post-season county-wide tournaments. Good luck to all the partici-pants. Youth Soccer and Flag Football registration begins July 1! For more information about youth sports leagues, email Youth-Sports@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or call (704) 432-4963.

Recreational News from Mecklenburg Communities

Start Smart Baseball - Elon Recreation Center: Start Smart Baseball just finished up

at Elon Recreation Center. During the six week program, kids ages 2-5 were able to learn the basic skills of baseball, preparing them to play in our spring t-ball leagues. Their favorite part of the program was running the bases! At the end of the course each child received a medal and t-shirt for participation.

Elon Recreation Center

For more information about our programs con-tact ElonRecreationCenter @MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or 704-540-2426.

Sky Hy Steppers - Naomi Drenan Recreation Center: On May 11th, the Naomi

Drenan Sky Hy Steppers participated in the Gas House Step Competition in Gastonia. Our team made an impression with their poise and precision. Although they didn't bring home the trophy, they came back with a fire and determination to take on their next competition! Sky Hy Steppers is an ongoing teen program at Naomi Drenan Recreation Center. For more information about this and other programs, contact NaomiDrenanRecreation-Center@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or 704-432-5231.

Park and Recreation News:

Submissions for the Newsletter

Please submit all news for the

Friday Letter to your Division

Director for review and routing.

Park Partners may contact

Kesha Meads at

Kesha.Meads@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

for publication assistance.

The Friday Letter Volume 2 • Issue 19• May 24, 2013

Mecklenburg County

Park and Recreation

Senior Leadership Team

Jim Garges, Director

Michael Kirschman, Deputy Director

James Alsop, Enterprise Services

Renea Barber, Human Resources

Mario Chang, Budget Administration

Lee Jones, Capital Planning

Lola Massad, Community and Recreation

Center Services

Jeff Robinson, Park Operations

5841 Brookshire Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28216

(704) 336-8840

Recreate All Year! Subscribe to the Park and Recreation E-Newsletter to learn of new and exciting way sto continue recreating during the spring and summer months. Subscribe to the Park and Recreation E-Newsletter to stay up to date on activities that may be available to you.

www.parkandrec.com

Upcoming Events: Powerade State Games of NC February Update The Powerade State Games is returning to the Charlotte region in 2013 and we want YOU to be a part of the largest sports festival in North Carolina! Held throughout the month of June, the Powerade State Games will feature over 12,000 athletes participating in 19 different sports across more than 30 venues in a true Olympic-style sporting event. Please read this information carefully to en-sure you won't miss out on all the FUN in Charlotte this June! Online registration for the Powerade State Games is open for most sports at www.ncsports.org. You can save up to $20 on registration fees by registering online through the step-by-step Powerade State Games registration system.