Foxfire in Cedarock Park
Cedarock Park is partnering with Alamance County Public Libraries to bring you a series of Foxfire-inspired workshops celebrating Appalachian culture and tradition. There will be one Foxfire program every month through October, including beekeeping, canning, pottery, and more (see calendar).
The first program will be held this Saturday, May 16th, at 1:00pm at Cedarock Park's Historical Farm. Jeff Robbins presents mountain music, stories, dance, and a hands-on activity to make your own 1-string bean can guitar.
Free tickets are available at any branch of the library- call or stop by to reserve yours!
|
|
Cane Pole Fishing Hole Derby
You bring the poles, we bring the worms. The junior Cane Pole Fishing Hole Derby is this Saturday, May 16th, 10am-1pm. Kids will be divided into two age groups for the contest: ages 5-7 and 8-12. For each age group, prizes will be awarded for the biggest fish and the most fish- a special prize is available if someone catches both!
The challenge- only cane poles are allowed. You are encouraged to bring your own poles; we have a limited number available on a first-come, first-served basis. The event is free and registration is not required. You may come anytime during the 10am-1pm window, and stay as long as you want.
We'd like to thank our sponsors for donating great fishing gear for the contest prizes: Smith's Bait & Tackle, Calcutta, Haw River Tackle Co., and Mace Sports!
|
|
NC Envirothon at Cedarock Park
Cedarock Park hosted the NC Envirothon April 24-25, an annual competition for middle and high school students to compete quiz-bowl style in knowledge of the environment and natural resources. Over 1000 people were present at the park for the event. You can learn more about the Envirothon on their website.
|
|
Be Healthy Now! Hikes
ACRPD hosted two hikes for the Be Healthy Now! program, Alamance County's 10-week wellness challenge. The first hike was held in the Glencoe section of the Haw River Trail on April 25th and included a walking tour of historic Glencoe Village. History buff and trail-supporter Bob Ellis generously contributed his expertise to help guide the hike, sharing his knowledge of mill history along the Haw River. In the photo above, Bob shares some mill history while the group takes a break at Glencoe Dam.
The second hike was held at Shallow Ford Natural Area on May 9th, with a tour featuring the new observation deck and in-progress wildflower meadow. We enjoyed partnering with Be Healthy Now! to share our parks and trail resources with the community and are grateful for the opportunity to work with their program.
|
|
ACRPD at Active City Streets
ACRPD attended Burlington's Active City Streets on May 2nd, a special Saturday event held by Burlington Recreation and Parks and the Alamance County Public Libraries to promote getting active. ACRPD had a booth at the event where families could play Wii kayak (and sit in a real kayak to do it!), children could try their hand at a fishing game, and folks could learn fun facts with parks trivia cards. Hope to see you there next year!
|
|
2014 Alamance County Champion Trees
We are pleased to announce the selection of the 2014 Alamance County Champion Trees. The Alamance County Champion Trees Project is an initiative to celebrate Alamance County's largest, oldest, and most historic trees. Trees may be entered to three categories- champion, historic, and landmark.
Champion trees are the largest recorded specimens of a given tree species in the county. Historic trees must be at least 50 years old, with a verifiable story of historical significance. Landmark trees include individual trees or groupings of trees that hold special value for a community or group.
The 2014 competition recognized new champions for the following tree species: Sugarberry, Black Willow, Post Oak, Willow Oak, and Loblolly Pine. A historic Pecan and a landmark Cedar of Lebanon also received recognition. The Willow and Post Oak champions are impressive specimens that are also registered as state-level champions through the NC Forestry Service Champion Big Tree program. The trees were measured and recorded by student volunteers from Elon University. A number of 2012 specimens remain Champions for their species.
We are now accepting nominations for the 2016 Alamance County Champion Tree Program! Anyone may nominate a tree on public or private property. If you would like to nominate a tree please send your nomination to acchampiontree@gmail.com. For more information on this program please visit the ACC website created by the Elon volunteers who managed the 2014 program.
|
|
|
|
The Big Dig
Cedarock Park hosted campers participating in the second annual Big Dig on April 10th-12th. The Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (FMST) convened the three day event to bring together trail builders of all experience levels from across the state for a weekend of trail building. Forty participants helped clear briars, remove roots, clean up trash, and level ground to continue blazing trail on the newest 4-mile section of Haw River Trail from Stoney Creek Marina to Red Slide Park.
Once complete, this section of trail will combine with already-open sections of trail to create a 9 mile stretch from Indian Valley to Red Slide Park, and will be designated as part of the state-wide Mountains-to-Sea Trail. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail runs from Clingman’s Dome in the West to Jockey’s Ride on the Outer Banks. It combines with the Haw River Trail in its journey through Alamance County. We were pleased to host this group and thank them for their tireless efforts to help complete the Trail.
|
|
First Saturday Hikes
The next First Saturday Hike will be held at Great Bend Park on June 6th at 9:00am. The hike will be led by Kim Brown. Please sign up online (no fee) if you want to participate!
|
|
Pleasant Grove Breakfast Club- New Schedule
Pleasant Grove Recreation Center's Breakfast Club will now meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every month from 9:00am-11:00am. Breafkast is served at 9:00am. Join the group for games, movies, trips, and more!
|
|
Pleasant Grove Fitness Room- New Hours
Pleasant Grove Recreation Center's Fitness Room is now open for use on Saturdays between 8:00am and 12:00pm! Free and open to the public.
|
|
Pleasant Grove Star Party
Pleasant Grove hosted the North Carolina Science Festival’s annual Statewide Star Party on Friday, April 24. About 25 participants joined us for an evening of fun and stargazing that kicked off with Solar System crafts and activities. Participants were able to observe sunspots through the telescope and after nightfall enjoyed more stargazing.
|
|
|
|
Setting up the telescope for viewing sunspots and stars!
|
|
|
Kelvin, the Science Festival Mascot, has crafts ready for coloring the solar system.
|
|
Summer Games
Summer Games are around the corner! Over the weekend of May 29-31, thousands of Special Olympics athletes from around the state will gather in Raleigh for the Summer Games. Athletes will participate in aquatics, athletics, gymnastics, softball, volleyball, and power lifting.
Currently, Alamance County Special Olympics is only represented in aquatics. We would love to expand if we can find coaches for any of these other sports! It is an amazing experience with full opening ceremonies (May 29th, 7 PM, Time Warner Cable Pavilion), lighting of the torch and all sorts of other fanfare.
Please let us know if you would like to coach a Special Olympics Sport – we will teach you everything you need to know and we need you! If interested, please contact Steve Glahn at 336-570-6760 or steve.glahn@alamance-nc.com.
|
|
Spring Games!
The Special Olympics Spring Games were held April 24th at Elon.The Games were a great success, with a turnout of about 2000 people (over 300 athletes and more than 1000 volunteers). Thank you to all of the volunteers and organizations that helped make this event possible! More photos will be available soon on the SOAC Facebook Page.
|
|
|
|
