They work long hours in all types of weather conditions seven days a week, and we all enjoy the fruits of their labour, so SooToday recently tip-toed through the tulips at Bellevue Park to chat with a group of City of Sault Ste. Marie Parks Division employees about their work.
“It’s very fulfilling to work outside instead of being in an office. It’s really nice to be able to work outdoors and enjoy the parks and the fresh air while we get to make our city more beautiful. It’s very rewarding,” said Riley Crockford, a summer student parks employee, who is going into her fourth year of study in concurrent education at Nipissing University.
This year, students hired by the Parks Division started their summer jobs May 6 and will continue their seasonal work until the end of August.
“This isn’t my field, but I enjoy it so much over the summers. It was cold for the first couple of weeks. We were wearing sweaters and jackets, it was raining, but it’s nice now so we’re really happy about that,” Riley said.
“I enjoy working outside in the nice weather we’re finally getting (after a long, cold winter and a cool, wet spring),” smiled Thea Sigfrid, who is going into her second year of early childhood education studies at Sault College.
“I really like it. I love being outside and working with flowers. We get lots of compliments on our work, which feels awesome,” said Jade Vresk, heading into her fourth year of psychology at Algoma University.
There are 78 city-managed parks in the Sault, with 25 full time employees and approximately 50 summer students hired annually, said Travis Reid, the city’s parks manager.
“We’ve got a big crew and we’re very busy in the summer,” Travis said.
Travis has been a city employee for 20 years, the last eight as parks manager.
“We look after all of our community plants and gardens. We have a forestry division as well, so we have arborists that work for us under the parks umbrella. We also look after all our sports fields, soccer and football fields, everything sports-related, and then of course there are all our playgrounds and green spaces and all the grass cutting.”
Travis said full-time parks staff and students plant approximately 100,000 flowers across all city parks annually.
“I’m pretty fond of Bellevue Park, but Clergue Park is one of my favourites as well. John Rowswell Park is a fairly new attraction, years in the making, but it’s transpired into something very beautiful,” Travis said.
One doesn’t like to think of winter after last year’s prolonged, snowbound deep freeze, but Travis and his full-time team are, of course, busy throughout the year.
“In the winter we look after our outdoor rinks, our speed skating oval, and now we have our new skating pathway that was developed at Clergue Park last winter. We also provide and maintain four safe toboggan hills for the community, at Finn Hill, Bellevue Park, Elm Hill and Rossmore Road.”
“The gratification in this job for me is huge. It’s rewarding when you see people enjoying the parks, playing sports, walking their dogs, using the Hub Trail, and we’re constantly beautifying it and thinking of new things we can do for people of all ages to enjoy.”
“There aren’t a lot of challenges. We have a good budget from the city, we’re able to hire lots of help from our students. Working in parks is very good,” Travis smiled.
As reported earlier Saturday, June 8 marked the official opening of the city’s splash pad at Bellevue Park (for all ages to enjoy).
“I think the splash pad is fantastic. It’s a great addition to the community and a lot of planning went into it, but we were the actual hands on with the building of it on site. It was a great learning experience... I think it’s going to be a jewel for the community,” Travis said.