NIPAWIN — With the weather warming up, Nipawin’s community services department is getting ready to reopen the town’s spring and summer recreation facilities.
Derek Seckinger, who has been with the Town of Nipawin for 13 years and is the general manager of the community services department, talked to SASKTODAY.ca about the town’s preparations.
The department is hiring five seasonal and five student labor positions, two Tourism students, around 15 lifeguards, two cashiers for seasonal or summer employment
Department staff will be getting ready to rake and drag the ball diamonds as many will be excited to start the ball season. Infields will be cut and levelled and get dragged to recover and loosen the shale. Seckinger said this aids in shale recovery when this is done. They will run the cut /level and drag more if needed during the season.
Nipawin has four diamonds at Walleye Park for slo-pitch, two youth baseball diamonds behind the arena, two under 15 and adult diamonds behind LP Miller School.
“We have approximately seven baseball teams from under five to under 18, four Learn To Play/ T-ball teams, and 14 slo-pitch teams in the league last season. This keeps Nipawin’s ball fields busy with activity,” Seckinger said.
The Nipawin outdoor swimming pool requires the removal of all winterization processes, a major cleaning to start, then it is filled, chemicals are added to prepare for the public.
“We will also be busy with annual repairs maintenance to the building, and equipment to ensure all is operational,” Seckinger said. “This process can take up to three weeks. Much of our pool staff has been retained this season and there are some new additions as well.”
The eight parks in Nipawin, three green areas, community garden and four cemeteries will also be cleaned up.
“We have the Nipawin Evergreen Centre, which is mostly known as an event venue but it hosts many recreational activities from pickle ball to nightly ball practices with local and Northeast base teams utilizing the space in the curling arena and auditorium,” Seckinger said. “Also there are the cemeteries which are fully under community services, including grounds maintenance and records management.”
The majority of Nipawin downtown flowers are planted by the staff, which take a lot of pride in the beautification of the town, Seckinger said.
“We offer some very unique programming ideas we have available for use fat tire bikes, roller skis, backyard giant games such as connect four and bowling.”
The department is responsible for The Nipawin Evergreen, The Jubilee and Centennial Arenas, The Pool @ Central Park, and the paratransit van all of which are often open 16+ hours/day.
“It takes a very dedicated and committed group for the operations of community services,” Seckinger said. “It’s likely not said enough but their work does not go unrecognized within the Town of Nipawin.”
