PORT TOWNSEND — Volunteers will groom Memorial Field later this month during the newly formed Jefferson County Friends of Parks and Recreation’s first monthly Friday Fix Up.
The volunteers will work on the county park at Washington and Madison streets in Port Townsend from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, April 23.
“Our goal with the Friday Fix Up program is to make this place just a little better for the kids and the community” said Jane Storm, president of the Friends of Parks and Recreation.
The work party is one of many activities the group plans to both make repairs and raise money.
Also sponsoring the Memorial Field work will be Rich Stapf Construction Inc., a Port Townsend company that has signed an agreement with Jefferson County to provide employees for maintenance of Memorial Field for a year, an in-kind donation amounting to about $25,000.
The work will be supervised by county Parks and Recreation.
Many projects
Volunteers will tackle projects both large and small, such as painting, fence repair, roof repair, pressure washing, mowing, weeding and cleaning of the historic athletic field and events center.
Several clubs and businesses, in addition to Rich Stapf Construction, also have provided support for the Friday Fix Up, by helping raise funds and provide volunteers.
They are Port Townsend Rotary, the Port Townsend Paper Co., Port Townsend Kiwanis Club, Port Townsend Boosters, Port Townsend School District, Chimacum Boosters, Chimacum School District, Joe Daubenberger, the Rakers Car Club, Port Townsend League Baseball Club, Port Townsend Braves Youth Football Club, Frederickson Electric, Sport Townsend, Port Townsend Athletic Club and Hadlock Building Supply.
The businesses have been invited to participate in the cleanups.
Raising money
Storm, who came up with the idea of creating Jefferson County Friends of Parks and Recreation, said the group is brimming with energy and coming up with ideas to raise money to keep Memorial Field maintained.
Those on the board besides Storm are Rebecca Krajewski, George Yount, Karl Jacobson and Nathaniel O’Hara.
Matt Tyler, county Parks and Recreation Department manager, is focusing on county parks maintenance while the Friends of Parks and Recreation will be involved in fundraising, parks cleanup and events at Memorial Field.
Storm said the Friends hope to put on at least one, and possible two, fundraising concerts a month at the field.
The shows will be scheduled to start in June or July and at a time and day to be determined, she said.
Some of the dollars raised would go to such projects as repairing the roof over the grandstands at Memorial Field.
“A contractor will be on the roof, refastening it” to prevent it from blowing off in the future, Tyler said.
Money raised would not only go to Memorial Field’s upkeep but to the free youth pop-in afternoon recreation program, which was closed late last year for lack of county funding, Storm and Tyler said.
“People can specify where the money can go,” Tyler said.
Businesses donating items to raffle off to raise parks dollars include Sport Townsend, which has donated a kayak.
Tyler said that while the Port Townsend School District, Richard Stapf Construction Inc. and Sunshine’s Painting Co. are mowing, prepping, cleaning and dealing with field operations on a daily basis, more help is needed with the repair projects.
“Catching up on these projects will make this place nicer overall,” said Dusty Massie, owner of Sunshine’s Painting Co.
“Everyone is coming together to keep Memorial Field open for the kids and the community,” Tyler said.
Memorial Field is now being used by the Port Townsend Boys Soccer Team and the Port Townsend Junior League Baseball team, and a series of community events are coming up, such as the Medieval Festival and the Rhody Carnival, both scheduled in May.
Memberships, donations
The Friends of Jefferson County Parks and Recreation seeks more members and has placed cards at the Port Townsend Athletic Club, Pizza Factory, Penny Saver, Port Townsend Leader, Ferino’s Pizzaria, Victorian Barber, Aldrich’s and the County Public Works office.
In addition to memberships, the Friends are also soliciting donations of cash and materials for use at Memorial Field.
Such adopt-a-park programs have been filled with volunteers since county leaders last year announced major cutbacks in parks and recreation facilities.
Stapf and his employees are among the many volunteers who have come forward to help save the county’s cash-strapped budget that cannot fund parks and recreation programs, which threatened to close parks late last year unless volunteer help came forward through an adopt-a-park program.
The county late last year, citing a revenue shortfall of more than $100,000, proposed closing four parks and laying off three part-time staffers.
The move left just one paid staffer for parks maintenance countywide.
That led to a call for more volunteers to maintain most of the county’s 19 parks.
The county park system that serves 2,200 families with 700 children budgeted $539,546 in 2009 expenditures but has only slightly more than $438,000 for 2010. That’s a reduction of 19 percent.
To make budget, the Parks and Recreation Department must pare back its part-time staff, laying off 2.64 full-time equivalent positions, leaving the department with a staff of 5.28 full-time equivalencies in 2010.
To contact the Jefferson County Friends of Parks and Recreation, phone Storm at 360-385-2291.
To volunteer for the Friday Fix Up at Memorial Field, phone Tyler at 360-385-9129 before 5 p.m. April 15.
All volunteers must register for the event in advance. Because of the nature of the project, walk-in volunteers are not needed at the Friday Fix Up Program.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
