The city parks department has turned on the sprinklers at its Forest Hills, Edison Johnson and East End "spray grounds" and starts opening its three outdoor swimming pools next weekend.

Pools at Hillside and Forest Hills parks open June 11, followed by the Long Meadow Park pool June 17.

Regular pool hours are 1 to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and 1 to 5 Saturday-Sunday.  Long Meadow stays open until 6 on Mondays,  on Forest Hills Tuesdays and Hillside on Wednesdays.

Admission is $2 for city-resident children 4 to 17 and adults over 60, $3 for other city-resident adults; nonresidents pay $2 more respectively, but children younger than 4 get in free.
 

Durham fifth-grader Coleman Mitchell Jr. finished 2010 by adding a national cross country championship to his accomplishments.
A Creekside Elementary School student and member of the Durham-based Triangle Champions Track Club, Mitchell won the Bantam (age 10 and younger) Boys Division at the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on Dec. 11 at Veterans Park in Hoover, Ala.
He covered the 3K course in 11 minutes, 14 seconds to win by seven seconds, a victory margin that might have produced as much relief as celebration for the young champion after some stressful anticipation.

As was the case last winter, the city parks department is closing some of its buildings for repairs:

• Campus Hills Recreation Center, closes Sunday.
• W.I. Patterson Neighborhood Center, closes Dec. 17.
• Forest Hills Neighborhood Clubhouse, closes after Jan. 1.
• Spruce Pine Lodge, closes after Jan. 1.

According to the parks department, reopenings may begin next summer.

The repairs are being paid for with bonds voters approved in 2005.

Even if you don’t play baseball, know anybody who plays baseball or
even like baseball, there’s still a good reason to turn out at the
Durham Athletic Park on Wednesday night:

To support the 120 teenage boys who will be playing ball this summer
because parents, businesses and organizations banded together to make
sure there’s a season.

Postponed two days because of Monday’s rain, the season-opening game
of The Long Ball Program will is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. today.

Come rain or come shine, Durham Parks and Recreation's annual Woofstock Experience goes on Saturday at Durham Central Park.

According to Parks spokeswoman Cynthia Booth, the sponsor expects
hundreds of dogs and their human companions to be on hand for such
diversions as:

The new Holton Career and Resource Center is holding a public open house and ribbon-cutting tonight.

The center will offer industry training and certification for Durham students who can leave their base school to attend classes in the afternoon and evening. There will be classes on barbering, construction and landscape management offered.

The community will be able to participate in sporting events, classes and wellness programs. 

This is a result of two years of collaboration between the City of Durham, Durham Public Schools, Duke University, Durham County and Durham Parks and Recreation. 

A ribbon-cutting will be held at the center tonight at 5:30 p.m. The center is located at 401 North Driver St. A self-guided tour will follow, and refreshments will be served. 

Pat Nobles believes it because she experienced it.

"It is amazing what several neighborhoods can do when they work
together," she writes in an e-mail message announcing Saturday's
season-ending tournament for a Durham youth baseball league that almost
didn't have a beginning this year.

"River Dave" Owen is discontinuing his "wafting" program at West Point Park, after guiding boat trips on the Eno River there for 19 years.

Owen announced his decision in a Monday letter to Rhonda Parker, Durham parks and recreation director.

He said several parks department decisions led him to cancel his program, including its requirement for him to obtain liability insurance and not allowing him to use the park's old blacksmith shop for an office.

According to Owen's Web site, www.wafter.org, he plans a new series of on-land tours along the Eno, starting this spring.

"Open Gym" is history at the Edison Johnson and Weaver Street recreation centers. The city recreation department says there wasn't enough use made to keep the gyms open.

W.D. Hill, Lyon Park and I.R. Holmes rec centers still offer open gym, free for those under 18.

Hours are:

• W.D. Hill: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-noon; Fridays 8-10 p.m.; Sundays 4-5:45 p.m.
• Lyon Park: Wednesdays 6-9 p.m.)
• I.R. Holmes: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 8-10 a.m.; Sundays 4-6 p.m.

Durham's recreation deparment is taking a group of "mature adults" to see the Theatre in the Park production of "A Christmas Carol."

Sounds great. The show's been a December institution for decades, and for the first time this year it's touring to Durham — playing this weekend in the brand-new Performing Arts Center.

Oh.

The City of Durham is taking the old folks to see the show week after next in Raleigh.

And, the announcement says, "We will have an enjoyable dinner before the show at Mayflower Seafood Restaurant!" in the capital city.

What was that about great things happening in ... ?