While the White Valley Community Centre in Lumby remains closed to the public, the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) is ready to work with community partners to offer new and past-favourite outdoor recreation programs to Lumby and Cherryville residents.
“It has been hard not having access to our recreation programs at the community centre, but we are glad that we were able to continue with the safe use of our newly renovated Pat Duke Arena” said Rick Fairbairn, Chair of the White Valley Parks, Recreation and Culture Advisory Committee. “Now that the warmer weather has arrived we can start getting active outdoors.”
Planned outdoor recreation programming is beginning with youth soccer. Conditional registration for children between the ages of three and seven that are from the Lumby and Cherryville area opened today. Program registration can be found at www.rdno.ca/services/recreation/white-valley-parks.
“We are interested in trying to offer new programs to the community,” said Tannis Nelson, Assistant Manager, Parks, Recreation and Culture, “and we would like to do that through community partnerships. We know that there are many recreation and culture teachers and leaders in the area, and we want to work with them to provide some great programming for the community.”
In addition to needing youth soccer coaches, RDNO is interested in hearing from community organizations or individuals who are interested in running outdoor community programs this year like yoga, pickleball, tennis, t-ball, or even painting in the park classes. All classes would require COVID-19 safety plans.
“We can help with setting up registration, collecting fees and even coordinating park bookings for groups or individuals interested in running a course, said Nelson. “Our parks are open and in great shape, and we want to see people being active and safely enjoying them.”
Organizations or individuals interested in offering outdoor programming in the Lumby or Cherryville area can call or email the RDNO for more information at 250-550-3712 or communityservices@rdno.ca. Program providers will be subject to criminal record checks.
The Lumby Outdoor Pool is also scheduled to reopen in May with COVID-19 safety measures in place, and Oval Park has newly surfaced pickleball and tennis courts that are free for drop-in when not booked.
With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to impact adult programming and requiring enhanced cleaning and scheduling protocols, the White Valley Community Centre has remained closed since March 2020 and is expected to remain closed for now with the exception of COVID-19 vaccinations.