Parks Committee Increases Focus on Cultural Arts

One thing agreed upon by members of the Parks and Pathways Advisory Committee in their meeting last night was that the township should seek a renewed focus on facilitating increased community opportunities in the arts.

The committee has discussed its role in providing cultural arts recreation in the past, and considered starting a subcommittee or task force to promote the goal. After discussion however, they decided to keep the work in house instead, adding it as one of next month's agenda items.

"I certainly think that we have served the public so well in other aspects of recreation that it is really time to play catch up with this," Deputy Mayor John Malay said after comparing Bernards to arts-focused towns like Montclair. Malay serves as the Township Committee liaison to the Parks Committee.

"What we would like to do is to try to gage interest and try to come up with some creative solutions as to how we would go about increasing the towns participation and support for art, music and various other kinds of performances," Malay said.

One of the challenges facing the township are a lack of space to hold rehearsals, dance and art classes or a variety of other arts programs. Linda Arnold, a member of the committee and also the instructor for Bernard's senior art classes, mentioned that there has been limited space for her program and others like it in the past.

"Facilities are a problem. I don't think we would have a problem finding instructors. I don't think we would have a problem finding participants; the real problem is figuring out what we would want to offer and where we would want to offer it, without having to engage the schools in a huge collaborative [effort]," Malay said.

Instead of forming a separate body to discuss the details, the committee will continue its discussion about how the township can better provide arts programming among their own members at their next meeting on March 1. "I think there are a lot of ways we can be, no pun intended, creative and get something off the ground without having to have it be a formalized approach," Malay said.

Meeting Notes

Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Gander said that fields three and four at Mountain Park could be unusable this spring because of overuse in the fall.

"The verdict is still out on those fields. Pretty much, we are going to operate as of now as if they will be closed in the spring, and if they open then it's a bonus for us," Gander said. "It's going to be an adjustment because those are our only two lighted fields and that's a lot of time we are not going to be able to use."

In programming notes, ant and floor hockey registration comes to a close on Feb. 12, registration for the women's tennis recreational league started this week and will continue until April and senior art classes start next Tuesday.

The Parks Committee also added the newly acquired public access rights to the English Family Woods to the celebration on "Pride in Our Parks and Pathways Day" in March. The purpose of the day is to promote awareness of Bernards Township's new properties, including Sons of Liberty Farm, which is located just across from the English Family Woods.

Gander also updated the committee on the band selection process for the summer concert series. Bernards will bring back Beatles cover band Beatlemania and Jimmy Buffet cover band Jimmy and the Parrots on separate dates for concerts. The Raritan Valley Symphonic Band will play the first concert the week of July 4. The Parks Department is also considering hiring a Billy Joel cover band for the final concert date.