2020 – MAY 9 ISSUE: REC CENTER FIELDS NEVER LOOKED BETTER

Have you noticed how green the soccer fields are at the recreation center? Always a source of community pride, the athletic fields are now spectacular after recent re-seeing and grooming. Even Corrales Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Siverts thinks so.

“I’ve never seen them looking better,”  he said at the end of April. But that’s partly because the fields are getting far less wear-and-tear than normal. The rec center has been closed since mid-April in compliance with directives by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Mayor Jo Anne Roake.

Soccer teams are not playing, or even practicing, so the grass is recuperating during the coronavirus closures. “Being able to keep new grass seed moist by watering in small amounts more times day and lower foot traffic has got us looking better than ever,” Parks and Recreation Specialist Aaron Gjullin said April 29. “However, we are excited when people can start coming back and using our parks and facilities.”

Villagers are greeted by an eye-pleasing expanse of greenery as they drive past the field, but it’s not just the athletic fields that have been pampered this spring. Siverts said La Entrade Park, outside the library, is also especially green and healthy at this time, as is the Juan Gonzales Bas Heritage Farm adjacent to the park and west of Wells Fargo Bank.

All of the grassy areas have been top-dressed with compost provided an anonymous donor, Siverts said. With these public areas closed, Siverts and staff have been able to give more attention to improving the grass as well as other projects such as improving parking areas at the library and the Growers’ Market area.

Gjullin explained, “We added eight trees at La Entrada Park. We planted 33 trees at the Gonzales field, and we have started to mow the Gonzales fields as well. “We trimmed branches at the library parking lot; we added another entrance from the library parking lot tho the library breezeway and we fixed the parking lot fences at the library that had been hit by cars.

“Parks and Recreation has never had an opportunity like this to be able to do any of these projects before,” he added. But preparations to open the rec center swimming pool were put on hold to learn when it might be able to open to the public. “We are not really sure what the summer holds for us yet, but we are preparing case we do get the chance to open later this year. As of right now, we have delayed our registration that would normally begin on May 1 until we have more information about our ability to open, and what kind of restrictions we may be facing.

“We won’t have a good idea of anything until May 15 or possibly even later than that, depending on what the governor decides.” He invitee villagers with questions to contact him by email at agjullin@corrales-nm-org.