The City of Swift Current is launching park programs designed to help families and kids in the COVID-19 era.

They are launching their Parks Play, Multi-Sport and Families in the Park programs for this year as the province begins to reopen.

While the programs have occurred in Swift Current before, a new pre-registration process will be implemented, and participants will have a maximum.

The programs hope to be able to add new family resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicole Spenst, the events and program manager for community services, said that they were very excited to offer the opportunities to residents.

“It’s really exciting for us in community services. That’s always been our goal, to promote physical activity and healthy mental wellbeing for our community, and the families in our community.”

She adds that they expect there to be lots of demand for the programs this year as social distancing restrictions begin to be walked back.

“Now it’s time for us to really go back to our roots and encourage that outdoor activity, allowing children to interact with each other and grow and play at the same time. We’re really excited about that.”

“We understand that we aren’t going to have the spaces available necessarily for that demand, but we are trying to work really hard to make sure that our programs are safe due to COVID, and to ensure that every child gets a fantastic memory from being at our programs.”

The Families in the Park program occurs at Saulteaux Park for children aged zero to five and their caretakers to have time. The program is designed to help give quality time to families.

Ten families per day can participate in that program and must pre-register.

The Parks Play program is designed for kids aged six to 11. This year the program is not operating on a drop-in basis. Both morning and afternoon offerings of the program will exist and will occur at Riverside, Kinsmen, Highland and ACT parks.

Fifteen children will be permitted per session, and a wait list has been created to keep track of those who apply.

Spenst said that they will look to add more children from the wait list if changes to the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan occur.
She added that they are also looking at ways they could distribute crafts to kids on the waiting list to help make summer activities available to kids who aren’t in the programs.

The Multi-Sport program will work with kids age six to 11 to use athletics to help improve mental health, as well as to keep active.

For more details on each of the programs, click here.

The registration period for the programs ends Monday.

She thanked their sponsors and community donations for helping to launch the programs in 2020 as they operate only on grants and sponsorships for funding.