Knock It Out of the Park This Spring!

By Heather Wood

Every year fathers and daughters have an event of their own. But what about mothers and sons?

For the last several years, we have hosted a daddy daughter dance. It is a special time of celebrating the unique bond that a dad has with his girl/s. Daughters of all ages love dressing up, fathers take special care to look their best, and good food, dancing, and lots of laughing is enjoyed by all. As you can imagine, this event is always an annual favorite!

However, we recently started hearing from mothers that they wished there could be something special for them to enjoy with their sons. After all, while mothers tend to spend a lot of time with their kids, they do not often get a chance to just relax and enjoy their children while someone else does all the planning and work to make memories happen.

We are excited to bring you an event for the moms and sons – our first ever Mother & Son Challenge! Spend a fun night teaming up and making lasting memories together. We will have an assortment of blacklight games to be played, food, and a chance to win Dynamic Duo of the night. Each mother/son(s) duo will receive a passport card at the beginning of the night. As each game is won, the corresponding game on your card will be marked as complete. Once all the games have been won, you will turn your card into a Parks and Recreation staff member to enter for your chance to win the prize drawing at the end of the night. Laser Tag games will be pre-scheduled based on registration, mothers and sons will be paired together. Let the games begin!  We cannot wait to see how the event goes!

So who doesn’t love winter in North Carolina? From one day to the next, you are wondering if you should prepare for bitter temperatures or break out the shorts. The same can be said for your lawn/turf grass. John Knight, Kernersville Parks and Recreation Athletic Turf Specialist, has a few tips for the upcoming season.

The ups and downs of the temperatures this season in particular is/has been a roller coaster and in turn plays a significant factor on how and when you should get prepared for the upcoming spring season. Remember a few weeks ago, when the weather hit 70+ degrees for 4 days in a row? That little stretch of warm weather sent your plants and weeds into grow mode thinking it was spring. For weeds such as crabgrass, dalisgrass, and goose grass, this was an ideal time to start to emerge from the ground. If you did not have a pre-emergent down already, you might have seen some try to peek out or close to it.  Don’t fret, you still have time. Your plants started to use many nutrients that were in reserve to help them essentially wake up that typically would not have been used until the spring. Plan to put your pre-emergent with fertilizer out now or by the latest March 15. This is going to help replenish and protect your lawn for the upcoming spring and give the plant food to sustain it through the summer. In addition, getting rid of unwanted weeds now is going to help set the tone for the season. Wait until we have not had rain for a day or so before applying and do not apply before a rain event. The list provided below are the dos and don’ts to help you get prepared.

  • Do not fertilize fescue after March 15.
  • Fertilize with a pre-emergent on it with a 19-0-3 with prodiamine or something comparable.
  • Mulch your clippings, do not bag them, this returns nutrients to the soil and plants that will be used.
  • Apply broadleaf herbicides for chickweed, henbit and clover. Scotts Turf Builder has a good one that you connect to your hose. It also has a fertilizer in it.
  • Mow your yard at 3 inches or higher. This will keep the grass/turf stronger and will help with keeping weeds at bay.
  • Use Preen in landscaping beds for weed control.
  • Sweep or blow-off sidewalks and driveways that have fertilizer/pre-emergent on them, so it doesn’t enter store drains.  

Bring on Spring! Gear Up! It is almost the time of year when the spring and summer sports seasons bring thousands out to fields across the country. Whether your game is soccer, tennis, lacrosse, kickball, or softball you will need to make sure you have the gear ready for game-time. Players from a variety of sports anticipate a good season and cannot wait for it to get started. Registrations for Coed Soccer and Kickball are now taking place. For more information or to register visit KVParks.com.

Planning for the 2020 summer camp season is well underway. We have a diverse camp program that values individuality, promotes self-esteem, and exposes your child(ren) to a variety of skills, games and activities. Each summer the parks and recreation department offers a traditional-style day camp program for kids ages 6 to 12 years. The camp covers a wide range of activities including arts and crafts, swimming, sports and games. In addition, the department also offers other specialty camps. Early Bird registration begins March 11. Camp will run from June 15- August 14.

Want to join our team? We are currently hiring camp counselors. Plan, coordinate, implement and supervise activities for summer camp participants that are fun, safe, and structured. You must be 18 years old and have prior experience in camp or youth related events or child related recreational activities such as sports, arts & crafts, etc.  For a complete list of requirements and to apply visit jobs.toknc.com.

If you can’t wait for our camps to begin, check out our Spring Break camps in the meantime.

Crews Control Camp provides boys and girls a chance to take their basketball skills to the next level by giving them an opportunity to improve their fundamentals. Campers will have fun and gain self-confidence, allowing them to create their own winning formulas on and off the court. Camp runs from April 13 – 17, from 9:00AM-12:00PM. This camp takes place at our Community Recreation Center and is offered to Kindergarten- 9th grade. The deadline to register is April 13, so hurry and take advantage of the March Madness at KVParks.com.

STEM Spring Break Camp is for young engineers ages 5-12 that are wanting to explore science, technology, engineering and math in a fund and interactive camp. Learn robotics, coding, entrepreneurship, circuits, arts, making and more! This camp will run April 14 -17, from 9:00AM- 12:00PM. To register visit AfterSchoolBrilliance.com/events.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *