The Crookston Park Board met on Monday evening at City Hall conference room. The meeting recap is below.
CROOKSTON COMMUNITY POOL MURAL
The first item on the agenda was a proposed mural on the front of the Crookston Community Pool. Local artist and Fin and Fit board member, Trey Everett, said he will volunteer his time and talent to paint a mural on the pool’s front wall to spruce it up. “I was asked to be on the Fin and Fit board, and for a while now, I thought it would be nice if there was a mural on the outside or inside of the pool, because I’m there for a lap swim, and it’s kind of bare inside and outside as well,” said Everett. “So I thought, well, I could volunteer my time to come up with a design and to paint the mural if they could cover the paint costs. And so one thing led to another, and that’s how this came about.”
Everett estimates the cost of paint will be between $300 to $500, and he will also do a clear coat over the mural to protect it, which will cost about $125. Fin and Fit said they will cover the costs. “Fin and Fit has said that they would pay for the paint, his brushes, and all that. So it’s going to be, would be completely cost-free to the city,” said Crookston Park and Rec Director Scott Butt. “Um, “It would replace the banner that’s hanging on the building. So I’m really excited to try to spruce that building up, and especially at no cost to the city. It’s a, to me is a wonderful thing.”
Everett gave the Park Board three mural options that he came up with (pictured below). The board looked them over and chose the first mural. “I came up with three different designs because that’s kind of how I operate. I’ll come up with different designs, and people pick and choose,” said Everett. “That first design is a bunch of multicolored blue waves, a lot of dynamic action. And that represents activity in the pool, kids being there for open swim and just playing, and people exercising in the pool, so it causes a lot of waves. And so I wanted to capture that. And then above that will be the phrase Crookston Community.”
The mural will take up the front wall with the sides being 15 feet high and the mural will be about 13 feet high in the middle. The park board unanimously approved the first mural option and will send its recommendation to the City Council for approval. If the council approves, Everett plans to paint the mural this summer. Everett added that when the mural is complete, he would like to have kids and community members put their handprints throughout the mural where the waves are.
SPRING/SUMMER ACTIVITY REGISTRATIONS
Crookston Park and Rec Administrative Assistant Andrea Prudhomme gave a spring and summer registration update, and the numbers are good so far. There was a registration deadline of April 30 and any registration after will have a $50 late fee added on.
The baseball numbers are strong again this summer.
T-Ball Boppers – 26
T-Ball Big Boppers – 43
10U – 24 kids. Will have two teams.
12U – 28 kids. Will have two teams.
Babe Ruth – 19 kids. Will have two teams if they can get a few more kids
Legion – 7 kids registered so far, but with the high school team still playing, they anticipate more registrations.
Butt said he is excited to see the big numbers in baseball, especially Babe Ruth. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had two Babe Ruth teams. And so, with 19 signed up, if we can get two more guys, we could either have a 13-year-old team and a 14/15-year-old team,” said Butt. I look back, I think the last time we actually had two Babe Ruth teams was around 2018.”
The softball numbers are a little lower-
8U – 9
10U – 12
12U – 12
Other activity numbers-
Golf – 78
Tennis – 63 (they have added a third session)
Club Kid – 67 (anticipate about 10 more)
Men’s Slowpitch Softball – 7 teams
Women’s Sand Volleyball – 7 teams so far
Swimming Lessons for June and July – all six sessions are full with a waiting list
Butt said the numbers are solid, and it is good to see. “Club Kid, we’re sitting at really good numbers for this time of year. We’re probably going to get 10 more. So our numbers have a chance, I think, to go ahead of where they were last year,” said Butt, who added that swimming lessons are full. “We’ve got people on the waiting list. It’s always a good thing to be booked and have people on the waiting list. If we can find a couple more instructors, we can get those people who are on the waiting list into the lessons.”
Jim Karn Field will be the host the Section 8A Baseball tournament for four days at the end of May and beginning of June. It will also host the Section 8AA tournament one day in June.
The next Park Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 8, at 4:30 p.m. at the City Hall conference room.
