Nicholas Kaplanis Director of Recreation
Address:	7 East Hayestown Road Danbury, CT 06811
Telephone:	203-797-4632
FAX:	203-797-4634

Description
    The Parks and Recreation Department offers extensive programming opportunities for all Danbury residents. The young and the young at heart are encouraged to regularly participate in recreational activities or enjoy our leisure facilities. Our park maintainers work diligently every day to guarantee every facility is maintained and manicured to ensure optimum use of that playing surface, whether it is for a game or practice session. Parks staff also maintains 101 other sites at public places and schools throughout the city, planting flowers, pruning shrubs, trimming trees and mowing and trimming grass.

    The City of Danbury has 1,381 acres designated for park and recreational use distributed as follows: 884 acres of special use parks, 256 acres of natural resource areas and 186 acres of city parks. The Parks & Recreation Department also oversees 55 acres of land at 15 schools for playground and sporting use.

    The Parks and Recreation Department sponsors summer programs, which include Red Cross swimming lessons with an Adaptive Swim Program for children with special needs, a four-week Summer Playground Program for elementary school students and a four-week Safe Summer Program for middle school students. These programs have given over 650 children in our community an opportunity to participate in summer fun and learning while visiting many of Danbury’s resources such as Tarrywile Park, The Danbury Historical Museum, Lake Candlewood, Lake Kenosia and our spray parks.

    The Recreation Department, in conjunction with Paracare International, administers the new Danbury Community Garden located on Miry Brook Road. Each year we plan on renting 10 plots to city residents at a minimal fee for the summer growing season.

Successes
    In the past year, the Recreation Department, in partnership with Danbury Youth Soccer & Danbury Children First sponsored TOPs Soccer for children with special needs. With the help of volunteers, each child had someone on the field to encourage and assist them as they play and learn the game in a non-competitive environment. Additionally, we introduced “Jump for Joy”, a creative movement and music class for all children ages 2 – 5. This class meets once a week during the summer at Hatters Pavilion. The Department will continue to explore new opportunities to enhance program offerings for pre-school age children. We will also focus our attention on integrating our diverse population in public and private programs. There are many new and exciting projects in the works for the coming year.

    Each year the Recreation Department also contributes financial support to the many non-profit organizations that sponsor a variety of athletic activities offered to all the children in Danbury. These programs includes: PAL Wrestling, Boys and Girls Basketball, Girls Softball, Field Hockey and Swimming, Danbury Youth Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth Baseball, DAYO Trojans Football/Cheerleading, T-Ball, Flag Football, Middle School Basketball, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Women’s Softball, HCYS Vikings Football/Cheerleading/Dance and Elementary School Basketball. In addition, grant money is awarded to the Danbury Westerners Collegiate Baseball Team.