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Nicholas Kaplanis
Director of Recreation
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Address:
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7 East Hayestown Road
Danbury, CT 06811 |
| Telephone: |
203-797-4632 |
| FAX: |
203-797-4634 |
About Us
The Parks and Recreation Department for the City of Danbury offers extensive programming opportunities for resident’s young and the young at heart. Opportunities include participating in recreational activities or enjoying our leisure facilities. Our park maintainers work diligently every day to ensure every facility is manicured and has been carefully prepared to ensure optimum use of that playing surface, whether it is for a game or practice session. Parks staff also maintains 101 other sites at public places and schools throughout the city, planting flowers, pruning shrubs, trimming trees and mowing grass. We continue to invest our resources rebuilding infield surfaces and making improvements with drainage at many of our facilities.
The City of Danbury has 1,607 acres designated for park and recreational use distributed as follows: 1,054 acres of special use parks, 117 acres of natural resource areas, and 381 acres of City parks. The Parks & Recreation Department oversees the use of 15 schools for playgrounds/ball fields, accounting for 55 acres. In addition, there are a number of hiking trials available for use year round which include Bear Mountain Reserve, Tarrywile Park, Old Quarry Nature Center, Still River Greenway and the Farrington Woods on the west side on Mill Plain Road.
The Parks and Recreation Department sponsors summer programs each year, including Swimming lessons, a four-week Summer Playground Program for elementary school students and a four-week Safe Summer Program for middle school students. These programs have given an opportunity to over 550 children in our community to participate in summer fun and learning while visiting many of Danbury’s resources, such as Old Quarry Nature Center, The Danbury Historical Museum, Candlewood Town Park and our Spray Parks which are located at Rogers, Highland Park and newly opened, Kenosia Park.
The Recreation Department administers 18 plots at the Community Garden on Miry Brook Road and the renting of Hatter’s Park Community Hall and Pavilion.
Accomplishments
The opening of another state of the art, all purpose Field Turf® playing surface at Westside Academy in Mill Ridge gives the City a third venue for athletic programs. We have opened an off leash dog park on Miry Brook Rd. Our skate board park is open and is located on the corner of Patriot Dr and Pahquioque Ave. This will be our eighth year of Summer Movie Nights at Candlewood Town Park, showing four free movies on Thursday nights during the month of July. These movies are made possible through the generous donations of local businesses and residents. The Recreation Department and Gaylord Hospital hosted a fishing tournament for Wounded Warriors at Candlewood Lake we also worked in conjunction with the CT DEP to sponsor a Hunter Safety Course. The Department installed an outdoor skating rink at Rogers Park open during the winter months. Danbury Youth Baseball continues to sponsor Buddy Ball, a baseball program for children with special needs. The Department continues to explore new opportunities to enhance program offerings for pre-school age children. We will also focus our attention into integrating our diverse youth population in public and private programs. Feel free to check the City of Danbury web site for updates on all ongoing activities.
Each year the Recreation Department contributes financial support to the many non-profit organizations that sponsor a variety of athletic activities offered to all the children in Danbury.
This includes: PAL Wrestling, Boys and Girls Basketball, Girls Softball, Field Hockey, Swimming, Danbury Youth Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth Baseball, Danbury Youth Soccer/Topps, DAYO Trojans Pop Warner Football/Cheerleading, T-Ball, Flag Football, Middle School Basketball Track and Field, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, HCYS Hatters AYF Football/Cheerleading and Elementary School Basketball. In addition, grant money is given to the Danbury Westerners Collegiate Baseball Team.