For his birthday party Tuesday, Pizza Joe invited friends to the skate park to play pickleball. About a dozen people showed up. The games went on for six hours.
A week previous to his birthday, Joe was out at the fairgrounds with a fire hose in single-digit temperatures, putting down layers of ice at the makeshift rink there.
Parnell has been promoting recreation since he arrived here 25 years ago with pleas on the radio to form a broomball league. He continues to wage a decades-long campaign to open the high school gym to the public when it’s not in use by school basketball teams.
That’s looking even more unlikely following last year’s decision by the Haines Borough School Board to de-fund the Community Education Program, the district’s adult education component that also opened gyms for city league basketball, volleyball and weight-lifting.
Parnell is not exactly a voice in the wilderness. For decades, scores of volunteers devoted their own money, labor and time so the town would have skiing, skating, softball, dance, golf, bicycling, martial arts, volleyball, soccer, hiking, running races and other activities and events.
Through private efforts, we’ve gained a golf course, a private gym, the ice rink, hiking trails, ski trails, mountain bike trails, a volleyball court, playgrounds and a horseshoe pitch. Imagine how much more we could have if our local government pitched in?
Haines may be the only town in America with a Parks and Recreation Advisory Board but no Parks and Recreation department or program. That’s the same thing as having a Public Works Department without snowplows.
It’s sadly emblematic of how much our local government values recreation: With lip service.
Forms of recreation other than basketball have exploded here in the past 40 years. People not only are recreating more than ever, young people are moving to Haines for its recreation potential. The number of outdoor stores has tripled since 1980 and the number of events – from fun runs and mountain races to disc golf outings and pickleball tournaments – has jumped exponentially.
Last weekend, young families turned out in a snowstorm to participate in the Winter Games, a day of wintry fun created by the Southeast Alaska State Fair about 20 years ago. But it was an all-volunteer event, so its future – like that of so many other activities – is not guaranteed.
Volunteer-led events held here for years including the Haines Triathlon, Chilkoot Chum Run and Koot-to-Kat Skat all have gone by the way. Not only was that bad, it was bad economics as residents of Juneau and Whitehorse, Y.T. came to Haines to compete in those events.
Imagine if the Haines Borough established a Parks and Recreation Department with perhaps just one full-time employee to help promote recreational activities for the public. Crazy socialism? Consider that even the tiny village of Craig, Alaska has a parks and recreation department. Skagway has an entire recreation center, with scheduled activities for residents.
Towns all over the world have learned that recreation pays for itself. Besides the obvious economic boost from selling sporting goods and attracting visitors, children and adults who exercise are healthier and happier and require less support from health and social workers, police and other government services.
About 20 years ago, when a group of residents tried valiantly to save the old elementary gymnasium to use as a town recreation center, I phoned the Haines-sized City of Cordova to find out how they managed to support one. “Establish a public recreation program first,” I was told. “Once people start participating in a program, they’ll vote to build themselves a place to recreate.”
The demolition of the old school gym in 2011 was a travesty, but one from which we can recover.
It’s borough budget time. Call your favorite assembly members and tell them you want the government to use your tax dollars to fund a parks and recreation department, even if it’s just one person to help support activities and events now maintained by volunteers.
That would be a small but wise investment toward a healthier and wealthier community.