Vaughan Celebrates Recreation and Parks Month with Free Activities

The City of Vaughan is offering complimentary drop-in leisure activities at community centres and parks across Vaughan from June 1 to 30 in support of the provincial Recreation and Parks Month.

New this year is a 30-day fitness challenge encouraging residents to stay physically active throughout the month and track their activities for a chance to win prizes.

Recreation and Parks Month is geared to all ages, abilities and interests. Highlights of this year’s initiative include: 

· Crafts, story time, hockey, soccer, badminton, taekwondo and relay races for preschoolers and children

· Yoga classes, deep water boot camp, ultimate frisbee, basketball, indoor soccer, dodge ball and tennis competitions for teens

· Power walks, salsa aquafitness and pickle ball for adults

The fifth annual Serve for Kids Beach Volleyball Tournament for individuals 18 years of age and older will also be held on June 9 at the Sports Village, 2600 Rutherford Rd. Proceeds from the all-day event will go toward RecAssist, the City of Vaughan’s fee assistance program.

Recreation and Parks Month also offers a variety of family-oriented programs and activities such as family zumba, family day at the Maple Nature Reserve, outdoor family boot camp, parent and child badminton, parent and preschool open gym, Concert in the Park on June 25, the Bartley Smith Greenway trail ride and Goodbye to Spring water games.

Vaughan fitness centres will also be running specialty fitness classes for those 13 years of age and older and a day for members to bring a guest for free. City of Vaughan swimming pools, including Thornhill Outdoor Pool, which opens for the season on June 29, will be offering leisure swims, aquafitness classes, water games and competitions during specialty events.                                                                                                          

Vaughan’s Recreation and Parks Month initiative supports the City’s Active Together Physical Activity Strategy, which aims to increase physical activity levels of Vaughan residents by 10 per cent and reduce “screen time” by 10 per cent by the year 2020.

Activity schedules for Recreation and Parks Month, including fitness challenge details, are available at Vaughan community centres, online and on the free Rec&Culture APP. To launch the APP, visit vaughan.ca/RecApp.