Hinojosa Will Modify Parks and Recreation Activities Schedule for Fall

Mike Hinojosa said the Parks and Recreation Department will hold a modified schedule of activities for the fall season due to public safety concerns associated with the coronavirus in Revere.

“We’re in the planning process, figuring out what we can do in our fall program,” said Hinojosa. “We’re going to try to do some of our classes and stuff like that. It depends on whether we can get into gyms or not. We’re looking to schedule more outdoor activities.”

Hinojosa said the George Colella Community Center inside the Garfield School is not yet open for use. The Parks and Recreation Department building on Beach Street will be open in the fall for modified activities.

“The big question is seating capacity and how many guests we can allow in the building at one time,” said Hinojosa. “I used to have – citing Miss Sally’s drop-in classes as an example – 25 young children and 25 adults in there, but we’re probably not going to have 50 people in one room. We might have to split the enrollment and hold two separate classes back-to-back to accommodate everyone.”

Hinojosa is hopeful that a tennis league at Gibson Park can proceed. A youth fall sports camp is also on the list of potential activities.

“We hope to run fall programs that start after school [3 p.m.] and proceed for two hours as we start to lose daylight,” said Hinojosa. “The more stuff we can do outside, the better off we are.”

Hinojosa tried to work around the social COVID-19 social distancing guidelines this summer. Usually, his summer camp program holds amazing weekly field trips to such legendary amusement parks as Canobie Lake Park (Salem, N.H.) and Six Flags New England (Agawam), but those trips were cancelled due to the parks’ revised operating schedule. A Revere group did enjoy a visit to Treetop Adventures in Canton.

“That trip [to Treetop] was absolutely great,” said Hinojosa proudly. “Unfortunately, that was the only one we could do. The other trips were either canceled by the venues or we can canceled our reservations.”

Hinojosa, who also oversees team and group rentals of the parks in Revere, said few groups have made inquiries to use the fields this fall.

“We’re not doing any adult group rentals of the fields,” said Hinojosa. “We are doing a few youth team rentals, but that’s it.”

He said the track at Harry DellaRusso Stadium will continue to be open for use by Revere residents. The tennis courts at the stadium are open while the basketball courts are closed.

The facility closures and reduced athletic activities are not a surprise to those who have been following sports at all levels. For example, the U.S. Open, a Grand Slam professional tournament event being held in New York this week and next, is being played without spectators. Revere High’s entire fall sports season has been moved to the spring of 2021.

Hinojosa said his final message to Revere residents is: “Please wear masks. If people wear masks, we can do a lot more stuff.”