NEW CRICKET FIELD IS PART OF EVOLVING

SPORTS & RECREATION LANDSCAPE

page 4

etterBmanchester

etterBmanchester

Volume 9 Edition 2 Summer 2019

Better Manchester Magazine is an official publication of the Manchester Public Schools & the Town of Manchester Department of Lei-sure, Family and Recreation dedicated to bridging communication among Manchester policy mak-ers, service providers, and the public.

SUBSCRIPTIONMailed to all Town of Manchester residents and available at townofmanchester.org and mpspride.org

PUBLISHED BY:Town of Manchester Department of Leisure, Family and Recreation & Manchester Public Schools

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFChristopher J. Silver

EDITORIALJames CostaJim FarrellRosaleen Torrey

COVER ILLUSTRATORMeghan Williams

CONTENT DESIGN & LAYOUTNicolas S. Arias

CONTACT INFORMATIONTown Hall Customer Service 41 Center StreetManchester, CT 06045(860) 647-5235

ADVERTISE IN THIS PUBLICATIONJournal Inquirer, AdvertisingRoseAnn Read, Account Executive(860) 646-0500 Ext. 260rread@journalinquirer.com

Growing up, I was a lot of things. An out-door adventurer, looking for frogs in the brook and shortcuts through the woods and

a neighborhood leader, heading up a band of friends on bikes on outings and adventures on weekday af-ternoons. A Rec Rat, the youngest of eight, who spent countless hours swimming and playing with neigh-borhood kids at one of our town's many rec centers.

My entire youth was shaped by the Manchester Rec-reation Department.

From the parks to the programs, Recreation was a well-oiled machine designed to give kids like me all the things I needed to succeed: structured programs to learn self-discipline and teamwork and how to win (and lose) with grace; supervised playgrounds to provide a safe place to play and parents like mine a much needed (and with eight kids, it was needed) break; and fields and facilities planned around the

needs and interests of Manchester youth and families.

"New Cricket Field is Part of Evolving Sports and Recreation Landscape" (page 4) gives us an opportunity to revisit Manchester of Recreation past, while reflecting on its limitations and its inevitable evolution. That’s the thing about well-oiled machines: they are designed to deliver a uniform product. As they age, we can tune them up and order new parts and oil the heck out of them but, ultimately, sometimes, we need to thank them for their service (Marie Kondo style) and trade them in for a newer model.

Manchester isn’t what it was. We are more diverse and continuously working to become more inclusive and equitable. It’s not fair or reasonable to expect our next generation of families to contort themselves to fit a mold cast in a previous generation’s image: to participate in the programs that were popular in the 50's; or flock to facilities that served the needs of families in the 70's; or play the sports that were popular in the 90's.

Let’s honor the past and keep what works. And by all means let’s keep tradition alive—while also reshaping recreation to meet the needs of future generations. Let’s remember, though, that the tradition that counts isn’t a particular program or product. It’s a tradition of public service and the provision of high quality experiences, opportunities and support for Man-chester children and families.

Christopher J. SilverEditor-In-Chief, Better Manchester MagazineDirector, Department of Leisure, Family & RecreationTown of Manchester

EDITOR’S MESSAGE:

RESHAPING RECREATION

Winner of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities

Municipal Excellence Award

BETTER MANCHESTER MAGAZINE 4-12

New Cricket Field is Part of Evolving Sports 4and Recreation Landscape

More Little Free Libraries Come 5to Manchester

A Recreation Transformation 6

Market Nights 11

National Night Out Family Events 12

LEISURE, FAMILY AND RECREATION 13-30PROGRAM AND EVENT CATALOG

REGISTRATION INFORMATION 14Registration DatesRegistration OptionsResidency & Non-Resident Policy

GENERAL INFORMATION 15FacilitiesAquatic FacilitiesParks & TrailsContact UsMembership

TRAILS DAY 2019 16

SUMMER EVENTS 17-19

AQUATICS 20General InformationSeason ScheduleSwim Lesson Session DatesSummer Pool Schedule

AQUATICS 21Registration InformationSwim Lesson Schedule

AQUATICS 22Aquatic EventsNoodle NightsDeck Art DaysSlide Into SummerGrandparent & Child Open SwimAqua CircuitTotal AquaAdult Swim LessonsSwim for FitnessTeen Swim LessonsPrivate Swim Lessons

EARLY CHILDHOOD 23Partners in PlayToddler TimeCreative KidsOpen Play DayCradle to CrayonsMommy & Me PlaygroupCrafternoon

YOUTH PROGRAMS 24STEAM WORKS LegoFull STEAMAhead LegoBuildingUpSTEAMPFLAGFamily Paint NightsBoys WeekGirls CircleUrban ExpeditionJourneyArt Lab After SchoolReaching for the StarsFamily Fun Night - Things in a ParkWrite Out Loud Youth Open Mic

YOUTH PROGRAMS 25Youth Basketball LeaguesPeeWee Tennis LessonsYouth Tennis LessonsJukidoSummer Ropes ProgramNoodle NightsDeck Art DaysSlide into SummerGrandparent & Child Open Swim

EVENTS FOR ALL 26Summer Kick-Off PartySlime NightMoon-Lit YogaFamily Movie NightCruisin' Paint NightMovie Night OutSummer Send Off PartyFamily Paint NightFamily Movie NightFriSciNiMoon-Lit YogaTie-Dye NightPumpkinfest

NATURE EXPLORERS 26Branch OutBumble Bee NightRock Your WorldThe Depths of WaterNature PledgeNature Explorers NightFamily Nature PledgeGlow in the Dark Night

REC ON THE RUN 27Color Me WeekStory WeekPaint Week 1Rec Rocks WeekPaint Week 2Cloud Painting WeekPoetry WeekIt's All Fun and Games Week

ADULT WELLNESS 28Adult Tennis LessonsYoga for Active LifestylesTotal Body PlusFit For DeliveryTeam Fit After WorkJukidoWalk15Strength for LifeHiking Case MountainCardio Circuit at Union Pond ParkPersonal Training One on OneRegional PickleballAdult Aquatic Swimming and Fitness Classes

ADULT WELLNESS 29Sunset Boot Camp

LEARNSHOPS 29Vision Board WorkshopMass Training CPRHarvesting Water with Gutters & Rain BarrelsDeadheading Herbs & FlowersDrying Herbs & FlowersPlanting Peas & Fall CropsBest Lawn with No ChemicalsPutting the Gardens to BedPlanting Garlic

LIBRARY PROGRAMS 30

SENIOR CENTER 31-33General InformationSocial Leisure ProgramsFitness and Movement Programs

What's Inside

4 // Better Manchester Ma4 Summer 2019

What would Randy say? What would Randy Smith say about the evolution of sports and recreation in his beloved home-town of Manchester, where he grew up and excelled athlet-

ically and for more than 30 years as a local newspaper columnist wrote about the games we care about and play?

The question is hypothetical, of course, because Randy is gone, hav-ing died 11 years ago. But he has rightly been memorialized—with a softball field and the annual, big-deal Journal Inquirer-sponsored track meet both dedicated in his name shortly after he died—and he will long be remembered as a passionate, opinionated writer and thinker, one whose views would be fascinating to read these days.

So, purely hypothetically, just what might Randy say upon learning that the Randy Smith Field will no longer have a backstop and a skinned infield and a 275-foot fence for softball games, but will instead be a cricket field with a pitch in the middle and three stakes, called stumps, at each end?

And how might Randy react to learn that the winner of the girls’ 100-meter dash had shattered the JI meet record with a time more than a full second faster than anyone before her? It could happen (this year’s meet is scheduled for May 18) as transgender athletes—in this case, “females who were assigned male at birth based on their biological traits” (to use language from the transgender community)—have been dominant in state girls track meets for more than a year now.

And one more: What would Randy make of the fact that his alma mater, Manchester High, where he played soccer and basketball and baseball, now has an e-sports team, where students compete from a computer lab in Room 169 against other schools many miles away, right-clicking and left-clicking against one another as they avoid minions and turrets and inhibitors as they make kills and go for the gold.

Those of us who read Randy regularly can only imagine, but it’s likely he would default to a line he used more than a few times when trying to make sense of the improbable or unlikely: “You can’t make this stuff up.”

New Cricket Field is Part of Evolving Sports and Recreation LandscapeChanges PromoteInclusion, EquityBy Jim Farrell

Summer 2019 5

No, you can’t. Sports and recreation, like society at large, is always evolving, and as Manchester get more diverse—racially and ethnically, and with more than 60 percent of its schoolchildren poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-priced meals, and its senior citizens living longer than their parents did —and as the nation grows more conscious of eq-uity and inclusion, and the world becomes more connected and transformed by technology, there are developments that are just hard to predict.

“Change is inevitable—you can’t stop it,” said Brian Coyne, who has lived in town since ‘85 and worked in the JI sports department for 30 years. We were chatting after deadline one March day in the news-room in their building on (irony alert) Progress Drive about local sports and recreation, and he passed on speculating about what Randy might write about the cricket field and transgender athletes.

But Brian had plenty of thoughts about the subject in general, starting with the observation that formal, traditional, team sports are not the cornerstones they used to be in Manchester.

Brian played on the JI softball team for a few years but his sports insights mostly come from his pro-fessional perch, and not so long ago, in a newspa-per sports department, on spring and early summer nights especially, the phones would ring constantly with people calling in Little League and softball re-sults, clerks noting who “had three hits” or “also played well.”

The JI still runs the relatively few results that are sent in via email but, as everyone knows, the Inter-net in general and social media in particular have marginalized traditional media. Who needs clip-pings for scrapbooks when parents record endless high-def video of their kids taking their cuts at Leb-er Field or “breaking ankles” with nasty crossover dribble moves on the Mahoney Rec court, clips that they will definitely probably hopefully edit down for everyone to watch some day?

Core sports used to dominate coverage and conver-sation—and, in some ways, unify a community—but children (and adults) now have far more options than in years past. Zumba. Martial arts. Disc golf. Gymnastics. Pilates. Pickleball. Geocaching. The list goes on.

Continued on page 6.

MORE LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES COME TO MANCHESTERA c ollaboration between the Manchester’s

Women’s Club and the Department of Leisure Family and Recreation , there are five more Little Libraries being installed through-out the community. Books are free for the tak-ing, and the project is designed to encourage families to read and prepare all children to read by grade three. Each new Little Free Li-brary installation will be commemorated with a ribbon cutting event, book reading and give-a-away and the schedule is available below.

SITE LOCATIONS & "PICK UP A BOOK AND READ ALOUD" RIBBON CUTTING EVENTS

Waddell | June 28, 6:00-7:30 PM Pick up a book and read aloud with a special reading by the Manchester's Woman's Club Location: Waddell School, 163 Broad Street, Manchester

Charter Oak Park | July 5, 6:00-8:00 PMPick up a book and read aloud with a special reading by the Manchester's Woman's Club Location: Charter Oak Park, Charter Oak Street, Manchester

Neighborhood Resource Center | July 10, 5:00-6:00 PMPick your favorite book for free and read aloud with Read to the Dogs. Featuring Things in a Park, a dual language children’s picture book. Free ice cream courtesy of Highland Park Market.Location: Eastside Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce Street, Manchester

Center Memorial Park | July 18, 6:00-8:00 PMPick up a book and read aloud with a special reading by the Manchester's Woman's Club Location: Center Memorial Park, 586 Main Street, Manchester

Westside Oval | July 27, 6:00-7:30 PM Pick up a book and read aloud with a special reading by the Manchester's Woman's Club Location: Westside Oval, 110 Cedar Street, Manchester

Northwest Park | August 10, 6:00-7:30 PMPick up a book and read aloud with a special reading by the Manchester's Woman's Club Location: Northwest Park, 448 Tolland Turnpike, Manchester

Squire Village | August TBD, 6:00-7:30 PMPick up a book and read aloud with a special reading by the Manchester's Woman's Club Location: Squire Village Community Center, 31 Channing Drive, Manchester

Our PartnersThe Manchester Woman’s Club in partnership with the Town of Manches-ter is excited to bring Little Free Libraries to our community spaces. These libraries are made possible through contributions from M. Stevens Compa-ny/Reading Railroad, Cruisin' on Main Street Mini-Grant Program, and Beth Sholom B'nai Israel in the effort to support early childhood literacy.

Learn More and Join the Manchester Women's Club!Membership is open to any area woman age 18+ who wants to meet other women, make a difference in Manchester, and have fun! Visit www.manchesterwomensclub.org for more information.

6 Summer 2019

Continued from page 5.

Sure, people have exercised and enjoyed fringe sports for years, but in Manchester—and towns throughout the country—sports and recreation are not what they once were.

The National Recreation and Parks Associ-ation has identified three crucial points of programming emphasis that have, under-standably, become priorities locally: health & wellness; conservation (protecting open space, connecting children to nature, and en-gaging communities in conservation practic-es); and social equity (ensuring that all people have access to the benefits of local parks and recreation).

“As town leaders, we always need to keep the needs and the interests of all of our residents in mind,” said Mayor Jay Moran, whose “real job” is as athletic director at Southern Con-necticut State University and thus brings to his political post special insights into Manches-ter’s sports and recreation scene. “Whether it’s at SCSU or here in Manchester, it’s critical that we listen to what people want and need, spend money wisely as we provide programs and services, and are smart as we use proper-ty that’s already been developed and protect open space.”

In Manchester, the town’s recreation depart-ment was actually repositioned a few years ago—no longer part of ‘Parks and Rec’ but instead a division of the Department of Lei-sure, Families and Recreation. The move was in part symbolic, recognition that recreation doesn’t take place only on places that needed to be mowed.

Of course, many of the town’s largest youth programs are not run by the town but by independent, volunteer-dominated organi-zations that include the Manchester Soc-cer Club, Manchester Little League and two youth football programs.

“We are fortunate to have so many options in our community and so many great people who volunteer on behalf of our kids,” said Moran. “It makes our job at the town level easier, but there is still a great deal to be done

as we work to give all residents opportunities for healthy, enjoyable recreational activities.”

Manchester residents’ choices are expanding, with relatively new or imminent programs and facilities that include the yellow bikes program at Charter Oak Park, an ever-length-ening Greenway, the Jay Howroyd Fit Trail at Union Pond and the cricket field, which is taking the place of a razed skatepark that might rise again elsewhere.

There’s also a good chance that even more substantial and dramatic changes could be coming as the town makes decisions regard-ing buildings. Notably, Washington Elemen-tary School is closing in June and potentially could be used for expanded community-rec-reational purposes (with adjacent Mahoney Rec an already busy place). Robertson School also could eventually be a recreational facility, although it’s now being used as ‘swing space’ during ongoing school construction projects. Nathan Hale? That’s still an unknown in the equation.

However things settle, it’s likely that the town will continue to expand the scope of its rec-reational offerings, doing more to support families in ways that go beyond sports, games and exercise. Community centers being built around the country now often have—in ad-dition to traditional recreation programs and activities—on-site physicians, nurses, social workers and law enforcement, as well as pro-grams that help with things like money man-agement skills and job training and volunteer-ing opportunities for seniors.

In Manchester, both town government and the school district are deep into work relating to equity and inclusion. Manchester is about 60 percent white (compared to about 80 per-cent two decades ago) and its public schools are even more diverse, with about 50 percent of its 6,000-plus students either Hispanic or African-American. But there’s broad agree-ment that—for whatever reasons—mem-bers of minority or traditionally marginal-ized groups are not as involved in town-wide events as would be expected or desired.

Continued on page 7.

A RECREATION TRANSFORMATIONManchester is always changing and as it is

does, programs, resources and facilities evolve to meet emerging desires and demands. Here’s some of what’s new and what’s soon to be:

CRICKET FIELD

By most accounts the world’s second-most pop-ular sport (behind only futbol, aka soccer), cricket has for the past few years been played on any available open spaces in town but starting in 2020 will have its own home—the field oppo-site Whiton Library and adjacent to Robertson School. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring allowing for a year of grass growth with play starting next summer.

CENTER SPRINGS DISC GOLF EXPANSION

Since its installation three years ago, the disc golf course at Center Springs Park has become incredibly popular, and in response an addition-al nine holes (actually baskets) will be added in coming months. Incidentally, there’s a 27-hole course at Wickham Park but use of that facility requires admission to the park itself, while Center Springs is free.

Continued on page 8.

Summer 2019 7

Continued from page 6.

Sports and recreation, according to various ac-ademic studies, can be an effective way to pro-mote bonding and integration across gender, age, ethnic, and socio-economic lines, all the while helping people stay healthy while having fun.

“Playing games,” as one observer noted, “is not always just about playing games.”

THAT WAS THEN

Ah, the good old days.

Just about any Baby Boomer, when asked for childhood memories about sports and recre-ation, will smile and be happy to reminisce.

That’s certainly true for people who grew up in Manchester.

Joe Camposeo, who was born in 1942 (mean-ing he technically beat the Baby Boom by two years), grew up on Walnut Street and was a proud West-Sider back when neighborhood rivalries were a thing. He remembers when the town started its Little League program (in 1950 or ‘51), and Manchester Midget Football (1955-ish) but is perhaps most fond of the ‘make your own’ adventures of the day—from touch football to driveway hoops. Joe left for college but was back by 1961 and took part as the adult rec sports program blossomed, with softball getting the most attention. Big crowds would ring the field at Charter Oak Park to watch teams like Groman’s Sport Shop (which included scrappy second baseman Randy Smith) compete for the town championship, each game covered by the Manchester Herald.

Chickey Barrera has fond memories, too, but they are a tad bittersweet because she was born in 1954 and as a girl, well, “there wasn’t much.” Chickey was a Balesano then, and older broth-er Jim was a three-sport star at MHS who went on to play football at Trinity College. As for Chickey? She was exceptionally talented—in-ducted in 2006 into the Manchester Sports Hall of Fame for her adult exploits as a profes-sional bowler, elite dart thrower and fast-pitch softball standout—but as a kid was often liter-ally on the sidelines. Timing can be cruel: the

year that Chickey graduated MHS (1972) Title IX was passed, this federal civil rights law lead-ing to the dramatic expansion of sports and other opportunities for females. But she en-joyed Little Miss softball and the town’s sum-mer camps and lots of informal, unsupervised neighborhood fun.

Craig Kearney was born in Pennsylvania and was just 4 years old in 1964 when his family moved to Manchester, a town then overwhelm-ing white. Craig is not. He’s African-American, but he said he never felt unwelcome or dis-criminated against as he grew up—except for that one time, playing for the Bennet basket-ball team, when he and the team’s only other black player (Jimmy Shelton) both got called for five fouls in the first five minutes of a game against a neighboring town. “Makes you wonder,” Craig says. Truth be told, though, he knows that not everyone always agree with ref-erees. See, after leaving MHS (one of seven black students among the more than 700 grad-uates in 1978) he became a referee himself, and worked thousands of games, some high school and lots of rec b-ball. Craig doesn’t ref much anymore, though, having scaled way back in the past year because, he says, the con-stant complaining has just gotten unbearable. “It’s getting insane, the way the parents yell and scream,” he said, citing the delusions that have overtaken so many young athletes and their parents, who hear stories of precocious middle-schoolers getting college scholarship offers and fantasize about the riches earned by pro athletes. “Everyone thinks their kid is The One,” Craig said, smiling ruefully as he shook his head. “They’re not.”

His is a familiar lament—that the days when sports were fun and carefree are pretty much gone.

In fact, if a single scene could capture the Baby Boomer youth sports experience, it might be from a warm summer night in the 1960s, when, as Chickey recalls, a bunch of ba-nana-seated, high-handlebarred bicycles were dumped in the driveway of their house on Francis Drive as 30 kids played backyard base-ball, unsupervised by adults. Her backyard had home plate, the infield was the Franks and out-

field was the Blanchards and Chickey’s mom (everyone called her Mrs. B) cooked dinner for the hungry horde to enjoy once it got too dark to see the ball.

Today? Cynics would argue that a single, telling scene might be of a youngster wearing $130 kicks (they’re not sneakers any more) stepping up to receive a participation trophy as his dad angrily yells, “Coach, you should have played him more!”

It’s not that simple, of course. Yesteryear wasn’t always so idyllic and today isn’t always so bad, but sports and recreational have surely changed over time and its evolution has had consequences with significant and sometimes unintended impact.

Consider, for example, youth football.

Manchester had a single four-team league up until 10 years ago, with the Jets, Giants, Raid-ers and Patriots playing one another all season long as their green-, blue-, black- and red-dressed cheer squads urged them on.

But for reasons that included philosophical differences, the league disbanded with two new leagues forming—the Knights and the Sentinals—which now play out of town teams and not each other. Parents and their chil-dren have a choice, which is good, but from a community and unity perspective, Manchester Midget Football is missed. Perhaps more than any other mainstream sport, football has over the years drawn a pretty balanced racial and ethnic blend of participants, and Friday nights at Mount Nebo were for years the quintessen-tial Manchester melting pot.

Sports and recreation have long been a way for people to bond and socialize, and that’s still the case, but these days the many different choices available can actually lead to a sort of fragmentation and even tension.

The cricket field controversy is a case in point.

Continued on page 8.

8 Summer 2019

Continued from page 7.

The town built a skate park opposite Whiton Library 20 years ago but it was in disrepair and—unbeknownst to many—was slated to be torn down. Simultaneously and, we’re told, unrelatedly, town officials were seeking a place to build a cricket field, because cricket was regularly being played on any available and semi-suitable open spaces around town. So, officials decided to build a cricket field at the site of the skate park (and then-Randy Smith Softball Field), which led to an out-cry from the skaters and a petition for a new park and some less-than-warm social media commentary directed at the cricket crowd and culture.

The town has since pledged to consider building a new skate park at a different site, but the episode was revealing.

Sports and recreation, ideally, unite and con-nect people, and clearly that’s often the case, notably in team sports, where victories are celebrated and egos soothed with a Butter-finger Blizzard at the DQ or a cold pitcher at the Stone and Paddle. Individual pursuits also forge bonds—think Silk City Striders and the weightlifters at the Community Y and the Moonlit yogis at Charter Oak.

But sports can divide and cause tension. The most obvious example being rivalries (like Red Sox vs. Yankees) and controver-sies (like that darn referee who called a game-alter-ing ticky-tack foul against a Manchester High player when MHS was one sec-ond away from a trip to the state basketball finals in March).

So it is that from a re-sources and public policy perspective, the town has difficult decisions to make. Money is tight and taxes take a toll and the Grand List isn’t growing much anymore and there are lots of items on the town wish

list (new library, anyone?) and, for those rea-sons and more, imminent changes in the rec world are fairly modest and designed mostly to reach more people who may not be cur-rently and consistently engaged. Coming soon, for example, is Rec on The Run—a vehicle that starting in July will visit neigh-borhoods offering creative arts, sports and games, programs and activities—and add-ing holes to the disc golf course at Center Springs Park and so forth.

Further down the road? That’s hard to say. Advances in artificial intelligence and genet-ics, in particular, are rapidly transforming life in every way, and that will surely include how people spend their leisure time that includes sports and recreation. Futurists are, for ex-ample, predicting that records in all sports, at all levels, will fall as athletes learn to legally alter their genetic makeup; that leagues will have to differentiate between natural and en-hanced athletes; and that some umpiring and officiating tasks may be handled by robots.

Yes, as Randy Smith would say: “You can’t make this stuff up.” You can, however, look to his alma mater for an example of how things evolve over time and draw lessons from what might lie ahead.

Continued on page 9.

JAY HOWROYD FIT TRAIL AT UNION POND PARK

The centerpiece of the revitalized Union Pond Park, this trail consists of eight fitness stations arranged around the 0.5 mile loop overlooking the 60-acre reservoir. The equipment ranges from simple (steps at varying heights, parallel bars, an overhead ladder) to intricate (including the Combi 2, a graduated workout space featur-ing an incline bench, push up bar, decline bench, horizontal ladder, and pull up station).

YELLOW BIKES & SCOOTERS AT CHARTER OAK PARK

This program debuted last summer, with resi-dents invited to ‘borrow’ yellow bicycles during weekday evenings (5:30-8:30 PM) at Charter Oak Park. This year, the fleet will include scooters for smaller children and youth and are available for residents and non-residents. There’s no charge, but ID is required.

Continued on page 10.

A RECREATION TRANSFORMATION(Continued from page 6)

Old photograph of the 1964 Manchester High School Rifle Team.

Summer 2019 9

Continued from page 8.

Randy graduated from MHS in 1964 and—imagine this, millennials—at the time the school had a rifle team. Classmates would ride the bus to school with, say, an unloaded Winchester 52 in a case around their shoulder (the ammo in a separate container), and then leave it during the day in Mr. Hunt’s English classroom and at the end of the day shut-tle over to the Armory on Main Street for practice.

“Things have sure changed,” said Jason Stanfield, a 1961 MHS grad and four-year member of the rifle team. A Boy Scout back then, he said he also frequently had a pocket knife on him in school.

John Albee, class of ‘70, also was a rifle team member—although during his years students stored weapons in Mr. Alibrio’s physics class-room and shot in an 8-port range in the basement of Waddell School.

John said that when he walked home with a gun bag over his shoulder, “Nobody knew or cared what I was carrying.”

The rifle team disbanded in the early 70s and nowadays the very thought of a gun in school is chilling—and anyone who even brings one can expect to be expelled and arrested.

These days at MHS, though, students safely and happily (and virtually) fire way as members of an e-sports team that’s in just its second year. One of the games they play is called League of Legends, which al-lows for multi-player, real-time showdowns, teammates scheming and attacking and trying to destroy the other team’s tower and base.

Continued on page 10.

Antonio Valdez, a senior at MHS, played football as a freshman but got injured and was not especially involved in school activities until the e-sports team was founded. He’s team captain now, and says it’s been exciting to form bonds and recruit teammates, some of whom had been reclusive and quiet.

10 Summer 2019

ROTARY PAVILION AT CHARTER OAK PARKThe Rotary Music Garden and Adventure Playground at Charter Oak Park are ex-tremely popular, and this year will be getting even better. Coming soon—a new pavilion will be built between the music garden and playground.

REC ON THE RUNNew this season—a REC ON THE RUN vehicle will be traveling throughout town bringing pro-grams and activities to different neighborhoods. Recreation leaders will lead sports and group games, run read-aloud programs and offer free book giveaways, even provide health and wellness information and programs. What else? There will be arts, music, and creative fun and activities; environmental proj-ects and games; and information about other youth programs, fa-cilities and services. The program starts July 1 and the full schedule

(which includes stops on Wednesdays at Spruce Street Markets and Fridays at Charter Oak Park) is available Leisure, Family and Recreation Program and Event Catalog on page 27.

OURPARKS NATURE EXPLORERS OurParks Nature Explorers gives children and families the opportunity to explore nature, gain knowledge through creative and science-based activities, and learn how to be stewards of Our-Parks, trails and greenspaces. Every week brings a different nature theme for extended camp time, and once a week there will be a fun, in-depth eve-ning activity at Charter Oak Park related to the weekly theme.

Continued from page 9.

Antonio Valdez, a senior at MHS, played football as a freshman but got injured and was not especially involved in school activ-ities until the e-sports team was founded. He’s team captain now, and says it’s been exciting to form bonds and recruit team-mates, some of whom had been reclusive and quiet.

Gaming, he adds, is huge, with nearly 100 million people watching part of last year’s League of Legends World Finals, which is just about how many watch the last Super Bowl. Antonio wants to stay involved in e-sports in college and says his teammates are equally engaged.

A rifle team then. E-sports now. The con-trast is revealing. In any era, sports and rec-reation shine a light on what’s important in a community. After all, when people have free time, they do what they want, based on what’s available and what they can afford. The challenge, then, in Manchester and ev-erywhere, is to provide programs, resourc-es and opportunities that meet its residents’ needs. And to change as the times demand.

A RECREATION TRANSFORMATION(Continued from page 8)

QUESTIONS?CALL (860) 647-3089 OR VISIT US AT

FACEBOOK.COM/SPRUCESTREETMARKETCT

Manchester’s Spruce StreetManchester’s Spruce Street

Summer 2019 11

12 Summer 2019

Family Fun Night Out - Kindness Rocks & Ice Cream Social! | 5:30 - 7:00 PMCelebrate National Night Out with Gallery 153. Paint “Kindness Rocks” with your family and neighbors. While you’re in the neighborhood, grab a com-plimentary ice cream at the East Side Neighborhood Block Watch’s annual ice cream social.Location: EastSide Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce Street

Westside Night Out | 6:00 - 8:00 PMJoin us on the Westside for bounce houses, face painting, pony rides, and a DJ as well as organized basketball games and more. The playground will also be available for use. Location: Westside Oval at Washington School, 94 Cedar Street

Movie Night Out | 7:30 - 9:30 PM Join us at Charter Oak Park for a viewing of Moana. Movie begins at 8 PM.Location: Charter Oak Park, Charter Oak Street

Family Noodle Night Out at Waddell Pool | 6:00 - 7:30 PM Join us at the pool for noodle and float night. Bring a float or grab a noodle and relax at the pool. Pools will have limited noodles available for use. (Noodles and floats are only allowed on these designated nights and times.) Pool pass required to participate.Location: Waddell Pool, 163 Broad Street

Family Yoga Night Out | 6:00 - 7:00 PM Join us for Family Yoga Night Out led by Barbara Titus at the new Jay Howroyd Fitness Trail located at Union Pond Park. This event is for all ages and all abilities. Please bring your own mat.Location: Union Pond Park, 114 North School Street

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes strong police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live and work. National Night Out enhances the relationship between neighbors and law

enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.

Millions of neighbors take part in National Night Out across thousands of communities from all fifty states, U.S. territories and military bases worldwide on the first Tuesday in August. Neighborhoods host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and various other community events with safety demon-strations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits and much, much more.

Take a look at what the Town of Manchester has in store!

CALLING ALL FAMILIES! TUESDAY, AUGUST 6TH IS NATIONAL NIGHT OUT IN MANCHESTER!