Updates from the Recreation Supervisor 

HIRING: ROPES COURSE FACILITATOR

We are anticipating the re-opening of Pine Lake Adventure Park in the summer of 2024. Pine Lake will be a prime location for group team building and experiential learning, various outdoor recreational programming, birthday parties, climbing camps and much more.

Since its temporary closing in the midst of COVID, the Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services department has allocated time and resources to renovate Pine Lake and expand the park’s offerings.

To date, Pine Lake has replaced a couple of existing structures to better fit the needs of the park. The pavilion at Pine Lake was damaged due to a storm that caused a tree to fall onto the roof. This pavilion has since been replaced and made larger to accommodate more people. We have also replaced the old sheds that were at the park with new sheds from Pine Creek Structures. The new sheds will offer the park more storage space while also improving security of the items being stored.

To increase the visibility and overall knowledge of the park’s existence, one of the main focuses of our department was the park entrance. Pine Lake received a new, large park sign that is located along Birch Street. Along with the sign, the department’s Landscape Gardner was able to come up with an elaborate plan for the landscaping of the large area around the sign. Also added was a paved parking lot and bus turnaround that would accommodate groups visiting the park.

The BPRYCS department was also able to add a new element to the park. Pine Lake’s new climbing wall, that stands over 35 feet tall, will be the park’s main attraction for visitors. The climbing wall offers three different faces to accommodate climbers of all skill and comfort levels. Once climbers reach the top of the wall, they will be able to utilize the zip line to return to the ground. Our department worked with Challenge Design Innovations on completing the climbing wall project.

Another focus of the department was adding a restroom to the park for public use. BPRCYS was fortunate to work with Green Flush Restrooms and Command Construction to add a pre-fabricated bathroom to the park. The bathroom is a single-occupant, ADA accessible restroom that features steel appliances and a baby changing table. The restroom is not currently open but will be available for use once programming begins at the park.

To date, we have completed the majority of our projects at Pine Lake. We are currently in the process of repair some of the elements already in place. We are set to have Experiential Systems conduct an inspection of the course in the spring of 2024. Following the inspection, we will work with our Pine Lake Adventure Park staff to provide an all-encompassing training on being a facilitator.

If anyone has interest in working at Pine Lake as a facilitator, please complete an application and submit to Recreation Supervisor Amry Shelby at [email protected]. Applications and more information can be found at the Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services website (www.bristolrec.com).