With life slowly resuming and people still being wary of socializing, the Kinsmen Club of Vulcan decided that they would like to see what they could do to ease the community back into social activities.
They came up with a brilliant plan. They decided to create two new park spaces in town. Now these are not your typical green park spaces. They knew that they would have to be innovative in their approach, and they sure were. First they approached to the Town of Vulcan to become a financially, planning and implementing partners. The Town provided guidance, dollars and labour along with lesser used green spaces for these projects. They then set out a plan to have stage 1 of the projects completed in the spring of 2021. They decided they would create a disc golf course and also a very special space, one that I don’t think exists anywhere else but here in Vulcan. It is a “Backyard Games” park. These are permanent structures built in green spaces that were under utilized. These new parks have breathed a rejuvenating air in our community and allows for the ability to use as a person sees fit. If they want to participate alone, they can and still have an enjoyable experience but if they are comfortable they can participate as families, friends, groups or clubs, etc. all in a very relaxing and enjoyable space.
The Disc Golf has 9 “holes” spread throughout two green spaces with rest areas. The backyard games has horseshoes, washer toss, corn hole and ladder golf all there and waiting for you to play. They also teamed up with the businesses in town to provided all the equipment as a package or lone items. The Town Recreation office has purchase game kits to donate to the library so that anyone can loan them out and use them. This allows for any financial barriers to be eliminated. These parks have dedicated picnic tables and even bbq pits to increase the year around enjoyment of the space.
The Kinsmen’s Club of Vulcan has done a great job in encouraging people to get out and get active in any way that is comfortable to them and helped reduced the stress on people as they look for ways to get active . The Kinsmen’s are not stopping now that the games have been installed they are planning stage 2 in the parks with the addition of covered areas to get out of the sun and bathrooms along with a stage area for performances.
Being names Alberta’s Most Active Community in 2021 was helped by community oriented clubs and organizations such as the Kinsmen who put the people living in the community and their health hand happiness first. and create a significant positive change in our community by doing so.
