By Justin Price, Parks and Recreation Director
Pittsylvania County Parks and Recreation has had a good year in 2021. While we have still had difficulty dealing with the effects of Covid-19, we began to offer our programs in full again this year.
After being shut down for nearly a full calendar year due to the pandemic, we returned for our first full sports season back with Baseball, which began in the Spring. It was great to see our youth enjoying playing the sports they love again. To make sure we did things safely, we had detailed guidelines in place, and our staff and volunteers bought into those changes. In the fall we started football, which was followed this winter with basketball. These sports programs didn’t happen in 2020, and it was a great help for our community to have sports programs running again. It was challenging at times trying to navigate through Covid, due to exposures and such, but we were able to work through those issues safely. Overall, we had successful sports seasons.
Second, our Community Center has been able to bounce back and provide a place for programs such as pickleball and exercise classes and serve as an event space to rent. We have so many people enjoying the Center now that we have been able to host events again, and it has been wonderful to see people getting together again. Along with the Center, our community has been able to enjoy Wayside Park, which has become a staple in the northern part of the County. We have finished up most of the revitalization of the park and continue to have citizens rent it out for weddings, family reunions, and birthday parties. Citizens enjoy the trails, playground, and even the creek in the summertime.
While 2021 has still been a hard year due to the pandemic, we have been able to offer programs again to get our community active and having fun once again.
