Swim for free, watch movie at pool on Friday night
By Mary Ellen Day, Special Writer
There is still plenty of summer left to enjoy and Manville Recreation has programs and events to fill up days and nights. Most of the events will be held at Memorial or Cooper pools or parks.
Recreation Director Stephanie Cornelson said that for her first summer as director she thought all was going well.
"We had 10 camps this summer and the splash camp is the last for the season," she said. "It is going extremely fast and extremely busy, but it has been good. We had a huge enrollment for all our camps."
Tomorrow night (Friday) there will be a family movie night featuring "The Lego Movie" at Memorial Pool, starting at 8:30. There will be free popcorn and snow cones. You can come and swim for free from 7 to 8:15. Bring blankets and lawn chairs.
A family pool party will be held Thursday, Aug. 14, at Memorial Pool from 6 to 8 p.m. with free food, swimming and games. All residents are welcome.
"This is the first time we are doing this as we partnered with Empower Somerset," said Ms. Cornelson. "They have grant money and are using part of it to provide a free community event for our town. We have done some things together in the past, so they contacted me to see if our town would be interested in doing it," said Ms. Cornelson. For info, call 908-722-4400.
Recreation is still accepting registrations for the second week of Splash Camp from Aug. 11-15 from noon to 3 p.m. at Memorial Park. The camp is for students going into grades 5 –8. There will be no camp during inclement weather.
Private swim lessons for children with disabilities was an idea that residents requested and Ms. Cornelson decided to try it.
"I have had some families contact the rec department requesting that we do something, so I contacted the Somerset County Therapeutic recreation program and she gave me information and guidelines to go by," she said. "We are only going to accept five kids to start out because it is our first year and we want to get our feet wet with it."
Classes will be held on Monday and Wednesday from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. at Cooper Park Pool, starting Aug. 11. The cost is $50.
If you have a daughter who plays softball, there is "Keeping Your Softball Skills Fresh" for grades 6 through 12 on Wednesday nights starting Aug. 20 at Lincoln Park. The cost is $35.
Fall soccer registrations will be taken from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Friday at Family Movie Night, and 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesaday, Aug. 13, at the Manville Public Library.
"We are trying to bring anything that our town needs. If people make suggestions, we take it to heart," she said. "Whenever someone calls or sends us an email, we try to listen and see what we can do for them. That is basically how every new program has started — by getting feedback from our residents and listening to their suggestions."
Any suggestions or requests for programs can be directed to the recreation office at 908-725-9478, ext. 121. Ms. Cornelson will get back to you.
Ms. Cornelson gives a special thanks to the recreation committee and all those who helped make this summer’s programs successful.