Chambers, who has served with her department for nine years, said programs for youth are ongoing, with baseball having finished but softball continuing with the Dixie Softball tournament happening this weekend at Fair Park and a tournament scheduled during the Watermelon Festival that has already had 82 teams apply.
Spring Soccer drew 230 participants, Chambers said, while the Tuesday and Thursday free youth activities sessions at the Community Center Tuesdays and the pool Thursdays is drawing about 35 to 40 youngsters aged 6-12. “Thursdays, we go swimming, but on Tuesdays, we usually have programs that come in from the county extension office to Arkansas Game and Fish. We do crafts with the kids, and we also got to play kickball, trying to keep these kids engaged and out doing something other than sitting at home playing video games,” Chambers said.
Flyers are being distributed now, Chambers said, to promote Sparks Fly in July, Hope’s celebration of U.S. independence that will happen at the airport Saturday late afternoon and evening July 5th. Attendees can expect food trucks, bouncy castles, bands and, after the sun goes down, fireworks.
For upcoming projects, Chambers said parks staff are excited. The first new improvement will likely be the Splash Pad at Northside Park, which will soon enter the phase of companies sending in bids to be considered for doing the work of equipping and installing. The equipment will take six to eight weeks to arrive, but the construction can be finished in 30 days. Then new pickleball and tennis courts will be constructed where the old ones are at Fair Park.
As for the aquatic and recreation center, now in its design phase, Chambers named some of the features the new building at 16th and Spring Hill will likely contain. “We're going to have a competition pool on the inside [and] two basketball courts with an indoor walking track. We will also have a new outdoor swimming pool. We will be closing the old swimming pool that we currently use, which is the oldest in Arkansas. Robin [Lee] has been very great about taking care of that for the past I'm not going to say how many years,” Chambers said. “We really appreciate Robin coming back each summer and helping us.”
Unfortunately, for the Lions Club, Chambers said, the building of the center will mean the moving of the Lions Pavilion, but it is to be relocated, not discarded.
The aquatic and rec center’s timetable on completion depends on many things, Chambers said, but once construction begins, it is expected to take a little over a year. “Once we go to bid, and construction actually starts,once it's awarded the bid, it will be a 14 to 16 month construction period. So we're looking at close to the end of 2027, weather permitting … We're hoping we'll know more when we go to bid.”
In other business, property for use in storing frying equipment will provided with a 99-year lease to the Hope Lions by Sierra Holding Company, owned by Jim Hawley and Lion member Mark Ross and for $1 annually.