Park board discuss new recreation ideas

When Brian Laube accepted the position of community services manager for the City of Newton almost two years ago, one of the things he was asked to do was to continually find and implement new recreation activities in city parks. Laube pitched a few ideas during Wednesday night’s park board meeting.

The success of a recent, unique golf excursion participated by Bolton & Menk netted an almost $300 profit for Westwood Golf Course. Small groups of golfers participated in a “glow golf” event in which players swung, chipped and putted in the dark and used the aid of glowsticks to play a nine-hole game.

“We started play on the golf course at about 6:30 or 6:45 that night,” Laube said. “I haven’t had that much fun on a golf course ever … Great time.”

This gave Laube the idea to possibly hold the event for large groups to rent on specific days next year. There may even be a few days where glow golf is open to the public. Laube said it is a recreation opportunity he really wants to launch at Westwood, hoping it brings younger people to the course in the process.

Other ideas that have been “batted around” at different meetings include pickleball leagues or maybe a one-week summer day camp for kids at Maytag Pool. Laube said the parks department has also thought about hosting walks or running events.

The city has also received requests about teen-only swimming parties at the pool. Laube toyed with volleyball or soccer league opportunities at places like Agnes Patterson Park. Or maybe additional softball tournaments in conjunction with Newton Fest or Fourth of July festivities.

Laube said, “We’ve been loosely exploring water aerobics at the pool as an early morning option. For the last year or two we just haven’t got anywhere with it yet. We’re looking at another way to utilize the pool in the early morning hours for some kind of recreation or exercise.”

Surprisingly, Laube said city staff have received two completely separate phone calls in the past year for croquet courts in Newton. The first call was a request for a competition-level croquet course at Maytag Park. Further research determined these courses almost look like putting greens, Laube said.

These courses require special mowers to maintain and, according to park operations superintendent Nick Cummins, have to be irrigated. Laube said something like that may not be possible with budgets. The second call asked for a croquet court in Sunset Park.

“I don’t know if there’s any kind of permanent features we can anchor into the ground and build people a croquet court and not have stuff run off — it seems like it can be relatively inexpensive,” Laube said. “We will look into that.”

Another request was the installation of permanent, pre-cast concrete cornhole platforms. Laube said he will bring more information to the next Newton Park Board meeting and may narrow down the opportunities.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com