The Lewiston Recreation Department has decided to cancel this year’s in-person summer programs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision was made after consulting with multiple organizations and taking direction from the state.
“Like all rec departments, we have been all chatting and we all have been reading all the various articles coming out from organizations across the country, the state and waiting for specific guidelines from the governor,” Lewiston Recreation superintendent Jason Hanken said. “Those are the factors we were going with.”
The recreation programs that have been called off this summer include the tennis, lacrosse and track and field, along with the Camp Smiles day camp and all swimming at Kennedy Pool.
A post on the rec department’s Facebook page said the department said it will begin processing refunds immediately to those who had already registered.
Like many other programs, the rec department is in the process of creating virtual training for some of the sports programs.
“We are working to see what we can put out there,” Hanken said. “I know the volunteer lacrosse coaches were bummed not to be able to have a live season. So that’s one of the things we are trying to get off the ground. I know they are really excited. I know the lacrosse participants were excited we were trying to get a season in and definitely not excited to not be able to play the sport they were hoping to get into this summer.”
Hanken said that moving the canceled summer programs to the fall, when Lewiston Rec hopes to have in-person programs, doesn’t appear likely.
“I briefly brought that up to our lacrosse volunteer coaches and they said that a lot of the lacrosse participants do many, many other things in the fall,” Hanken said. “It’s hard to reschedule a lot of these seasonal programs because a lot of those kids participate in multiple sports all year-round. Come fall, they move on to football, soccer, preseason hockey or other things.”
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