Sarah Frey 0:08

Welcome back to another edition of The House Review. Today is a little bit different. Uh, our city manager, Dan Hoffman has bit US ado, so today I am joined by. One of our favorites at City Hall, our director of Community Development, Mike Ruddy. Hi Mike. Hello, Mike is Stepping in and co-host, guest co-hosting with me today. Over the next couple of, uh, months, you'll probably have see a couple of different, uh, guest co-host popping in and popping out to get to see everybody, to get to know everybody. Um, just kind of reintroducing some of the senior leadership of the city. To you. So without any further ado, I'm gonna hand things over to Mr. Reddy, who's gonna tell you what's coming up at council this week.

Mike Ruddy 0:55

Thank you very much. Well, yes, I'm pleased to, uh, join us here today and talk a little bit about what's happening at the council meeting next Tuesday. Uh, at that meeting, community development is gonna be well represented with several items, uh, many of which deal with the neighborhood design district, in particular, the Cider Hill. So city council will be looking at. Amendments to the zoning ordinance to reenact some of the neighborhood design district, um, requirements to accommodate and hopefully encourage the neighborhood design district development that's anticipated to occur up in the side of Hill District. So we're updating the zoning ordinance and then following that up with the rezoning of several properties in that area and. The Cider Hill does not just stop there with the first phase because the comprehensive plan is looking to expand to the west to recognize some additional new land uses up in that area, residential land uses. So,

Sarah Frey 1:56

quick question. What is the comprehensive plan?

Mike Ruddy 1:59

The comprehensive plan is the guiding document, the vision document for the city of Winchester.

Sarah Frey 2:04

And how often does that get updated?

Mike Ruddy 2:06

Typically, every five years is required to be updated by state code. However, the city is very progressive. The city is continually looking and evaluating the comprehensive plan. Neighborhood design districts are a great example of that, where based on the direction of city council to really look at some of those catalyst sites, some of those areas of the city that of higher importance to see some change. The neighborhood design districts have given us the opportunity to do that, and most recently, Cedar Valley was approved by council at the beginning of the year and rezoned, and we see great things happening in that area. The Cider Hill Neighborhood Design District is looking at the comprehensive plan in that particular area of the city and the North northern portion. So again, very, very excited about that and the community engagement and that whole effort. So we'll talk more, I know about neighborhood design districts at, uh, upcoming, uh, rouse review opportunities. But, uh, this one is kind of concluding the Cider Hill area and looking to. Um, move that one forward and we'll be doing that here at this council meeting on Tuesday night, uh, followed by a public hearing at the, uh, second October council meeting. Um, also that meeting outside of the community development realm is some public services work on easements where we're looking to, uh, grant rent easements on Southwood Street and multiple easements associated with Hope Drive and Valley Avenue. Of course, that's the Wards Plaza redevelopment. There'll also be some snow emergency and city code amendments dealing with, uh, new snow routes, if you will. Um, and anticipation of snow, which I'm sure will fall again this year.

Sarah Frey 3:48

Oh, city Public Services has been training all last week just to get ready for the snow. Yeah,

Mike Ruddy 3:52

you'll have some great stuff coming out on that. And yeah, and then some, uh, more mundane things, if you will, dealing with, uh, positions. Uh, grant awarding and, uh, meeting schedule for city Council for 2026. City Council will also be going into executive session to discuss the interim city manager position, and it should be a very, very full and exciting meeting on Tuesday night. Uh, the city council,

Sarah Frey 4:15

oh, it's gonna be a long one. We'll be back with some more on the roster review in just a minute. What's coming up in the city? All right, it's spooky season. All the spooky things are coming. Including spooky fun at Jim Burnett Park on October 17th from five 30 to eight 30. If you have not registered, gotten your trolley tickets for the Spooky trolley ride or bought your boo bundles. Hurry fast'cause they're running out. Um, it's a family friendly event. Costumes are encouraged. There's trick-or-treating graphs, fun, all kinds of stuff. Next up. The most important thing about spooky season, the city does not set trick or treating days, hours or times that is up to you and your neighbors do what you think is best for your neighborhood. We do not set it or change it. We just encourage everybody to be safe and have fun, and finally. The city is excited to announce a brand new event that we are bringing out called A Salute to our Veterans, which is gonna be held on Thursday, November 6th at 11:00 AM in Jim Barnett Park at the P-O-W-M-I-A Memorial. And that's gonna be followed up by a free luncheon for our veterans at the social hall inside the War Memorial building. And you can learn more and register for that free lunch at www dot winchester va dot. Gov slash salute. We hope to see you there. All right. Next up, we are going to be bringing in our very own parks director, Chris Conn, here to talk about all the exciting things going on in our parks and rock world. We'll be back in just a minute. And we're back. We are happy to reintroduce not for the first time on the podcast, Mr. Chris Coner. Hi Chris.

Chris Konyar 6:09

Hey, how are you?

Sarah Frey 6:10

Doing well. So Mr. Coner has been with the city for how long now?

Chris Konyar 6:16

Four year anniversary was July, so, Ooh, I'm coming up on four and a half, I guess.

Sarah Frey 6:22

Man, time

Chris Konyar 6:23

flies when you're having fun.

Sarah Frey 6:25

Yeah, it does. And the city is not the first time Chris has worked in Parks and Rec. That's been basically his whole career. Right?

Chris Konyar 6:32

Yeah. That anniversary was 26 years. Ooh. So, yeah, I've been around for a minute, so to speak.

Sarah Frey 6:40

That's amazing.

Chris Konyar 6:40

Yes, it is. Uh, it's been a, uh. It's been a great run.

Sarah Frey 6:44

Alright, well Chris is here to regale Mike and I with all of the amazing things going on in the parks.

Chris Konyar 6:53

Yes. The parks is, uh, is very busy, especially come fall, uh, Jim Barnett Park is in full effect. Um, so we have a lot of exciting. Programs and events coming up. We have some construction going on. You

Sarah Frey 7:09

always, in the two and a half years I've been at the city, has Jim Burnett Park not had something under construction?

Chris Konyar 7:17

I, I don't think so.

Sarah Frey 7:19

So since I've been here, you've built the entirety of Preston Field?

Chris Konyar 7:25

Yes. So the, the turf fields are fully installed.

Sarah Frey 7:29

Um, trails have been added. All over the place.

Chris Konyar 7:33

Yeah, I think we've done. Four. Three or four for sure.

Sarah Frey 7:38

Absolutely. Like the one through the arboretum is my favorite.

Chris Konyar 7:41

Yeah. We had, um, the native plant festival this past weekend and so it was cool to have the trail in there and there was a lot of people utilizing it. So it's kinda kind of nice to see, you know,

Sarah Frey 7:53

it's nice to make old things new again. Right.

Chris Konyar 7:56

Yeah. And the trail connects. I see a lot more park patrons down in the arboretum, so that trail was, was pretty, uh.

Sarah Frey 8:03

Because the Urban Burrito just had a big birthday too, right?

Chris Konyar 8:06

50 years.

Sarah Frey 8:07

Wow.

Chris Konyar 8:08

Yes. That's, it's a big wow. For real. 50 years is pretty impressive.

Sarah Frey 8:14

That's crazy. Um, so those are, and you've also built an entire pickleball.

Chris Konyar 8:20

Yes. Set up another area of the park that is, uh, extremely well used to say the least.

Sarah Frey 8:27

Okay. So with all of that going on, there's new stuff, some of it related to some of those other construction projects we talked about. Yes. So what's getting built now?

Chris Konyar 8:36

So, um, as part of the Preston Field. Um, the turf Field project phase two, if you will. Uh, we are adding a new press box, um, that will serve the new turf fields with restrooms on the bottom level. So it's a three level, uh, press box. Middle level is something like storage, and then the top level is the press box slash office space, which will serve Henkel Harris Field. So, and who

Sarah Frey 9:03

plays on Henkel Harris?

Chris Konyar 9:04

Henkel Harris is Hanley's. Uh, home fast pitch softball field. And then it also serves as it's, it's a multi-use baseball slash softball field. So Winchester baseball, that's one of their more important fields, uh, especially for tournament use. So that is getting a full makeover as part of the press box. Ooh, so new dugouts, uh, new fencing. Um, new backstop. It's the dugouts. Absolutely look phenomenal. They just started, uh, they're almost finished with them now, but they started them last week and then they're coming up and they just look amazing and they're modeled off the dugouts from Rotary Field, which was turfed as part of the Shenandoah University. So, and they. They look phenomenal as well. So those are going in, and then the fencing and the press box, and it'll be a brand new field, pretty much.

Sarah Frey 10:01

And it'll be ready for softball season come the spring.

Chris Konyar 10:04

Yes. So the press box is slated to be finished. December.

Sarah Frey 10:09

Okay.

Chris Konyar 10:10

Maybe earlier, but to be safe, we'll go mid-December. So yeah, that field will be up and up and running. The restrooms will be open for Preston come, you know, definitely for the spring. So we

Sarah Frey 10:22

should all mark our calendars for Hanley softballs, uh, home opening game.

Chris Konyar 10:26

I would think so, yes, absolutely. So I'm pretty excited with, uh, with that particular project. And they did, we already did a bunch of upgrades on Hanley's baseball field. Mm-hmm. Bode Graham. So, um, oh, I forgot to mention Henkel Harris also has new athletic lighting, field lighting. They got How

Sarah Frey 10:46

many fields have the new lights and how much better are they?

Chris Konyar 10:49

Oh, they're way better way. I mean, it's a, it's, it's definitely a, uh, a huge upgrade. Um, Bodie Grim Preston, of course, and Henkel Harris all have new lights. And then s you already did Bridge Forth. And, um, so Rotary and Yost are the last two fields that, that need it. And those are steel, LED. Like focused on the field, light it up. Um,

Sarah Frey 11:15

and they point down not up so they don't confuse with birds and all of that. Yeah.

Chris Konyar 11:19

They're, and there's, there's no, uh, light pollution Yes. Filtering through the city anymore that I think that problem has been pretty much solved. Um, so yeah, we're happy that, um, these fields are getting upgraded and, um. You know, the use is already there, but it'll be, they'll, you know, I know our user groups will be very excited. Oh yeah. Um, to see it. And of course, the turf is already in full. Full use. So having restrooms right there will be, believe it or not, will be very appreciated

Sarah Frey 11:52

as somebody with kids who play Blue Ridge Soccer, I do not think I can stress enough how excited everybody is for those bathrooms. Yeah,

Chris Konyar 12:01

it is. It is a little bit of a hike. To go to, uh, either the war memorial building to the right or the rotary, uh, restrooms to the left. So having them right there will be, will be a nice upgrade.

Sarah Frey 12:13

Oh, that'll be amazing.

Chris Konyar 12:14

But yeah, so yeah, it's, it's coming along

Sarah Frey 12:17

well. And that's just the upper part of the park, what's going on in the lower part of the park.

Chris Konyar 12:22

So we're finalizing. By the end of this month, by the end of October, we're finalizing our playground upgrade.

Sarah Frey 12:30

Woo-hoo.

Chris Konyar 12:30

Down at Family Land. Uh, so we're getting a very large playground with a bunch of different features. When you say

Sarah Frey 12:38

large, like how large are we talking here?

Chris Konyar 12:41

Well, I mean, if you, if you're down at Family Land now, there's already, we have two larger playground systems. Down there. Um, one in the back of family land and one near the parking lot. So the one near the parking lot needs to be replaced. It's 20 plus years older, so the new one is gonna be moved back a little bit, but it would be a lot considerably bigger. Um, so more slides, more swings. We did the, the whole, um, feedback sessions, and this is a shocker. The number one and two features that people want in a playground are. Could you guess?

Sarah Frey 13:19

Swings and slides. Yeah.

Chris Konyar 13:22

Not, like I said, park should, rec is typically not complicated. Hey,

Sarah Frey 13:25

listen, why mess with the classics? Although, exactly, as long as you're including my other, um, my third favorite s part of a, uh, playground, which is shade.

Chris Konyar 13:33

Shade. Yes, it does have a lot of shade structures in there, which is very nice. But swings was number one. Slides was number two, so

Sarah Frey 13:40

I believe it.

Chris Konyar 13:41

Yep. So it'll have some extra swing. You know, the swing set has some extra bays and there's. Plenty of slides in the new one. And then there's some other features in there, which I don't wanna ruin the surprise. I want it to be kind of like a wow factor. But it is nice

Sarah Frey 13:58

and it's gonna be accessible.

Chris Konyar 14:00

Yeah. So it has, um, it has the playground surfacing, so it won't be mulch or any, it's like the spongy. Yeah. Um, and that's. I, I mean, that's makes it a lot safer.

Sarah Frey 14:11

Yeah. Um,

Chris Konyar 14:12

you know, kids, if they have an accident or fall or whatever, it just goes to the next level. So yeah, it will have that, and that makes it highly accessible for anyone with, you know, special needs or anything along those lines. It's gonna be a lot easier to navigate through the playground.

Sarah Frey 14:27

Oh, that's amazing.

Chris Konyar 14:27

So, yeah, we're super pumped about that. And then down at Family Land, they're gonna be putting, um, I think it's the. Third bike rack

Sarah Frey 14:35

it. Ooh. These are the bike racks that the Hanley Innovation Center's helping us build, aren't they?

Chris Konyar 14:41

Absolutely. And then they have a pickleball theme to it because they're, you know, they're gonna be right next to the, the pickleball courts.

Sarah Frey 14:49

So I've seen the renderings and it looks so cool.

Chris Konyar 14:53

See, I have not seen them. I have an idea, but I haven't seen the final.

Sarah Frey 14:57

Ooh, okay.

Chris Konyar 14:58

So, yeah, I'm looking forward to that. They,

Sarah Frey 15:00

they look really sharp. Yeah. I think the pickle ballers are going to love them.

Chris Konyar 15:05

Yeah. And a lot of people do bike down there. Yeah. So it'll be nice to have the bike rack, to be honest. I think it'll be very, uh, very functional and used. Whoa.

Sarah Frey 15:15

The pickleball courts are never empty. No. I've driven by at seven in the morning and I've driven by at 10 o'clock at night. Pickleball courts are always hopping.

Chris Konyar 15:23

Yeah. We have to shut the lights down, like right around 10, between nine 30 and 10 o'clock. And believe it or not, there's still people like, they're like, what are you doing?

Sarah Frey 15:33

They're like, do I need to put my headlamp on? Yeah.

Chris Konyar 15:35

It's time for you to go home. We appreciate your passion for pickleball, but um, so yeah, but family land with the, with the new playground that'll be coming in the spring. It takes time to and with

Sarah Frey 15:47

the family land playground. So you said it's gonna go behind where the existing one is. Does that mean there's not. We don't have to deal with not having a playground. Like it's, we're always gonna have a playground.

Chris Konyar 15:56

Yes. The, the current playground will stay open until the new one is finished. That was the goal. Oh, that's amazing. And then, then that will be removed. We wanted to get away from the parking lot.

Sarah Frey 16:07

Oh yeah. It

Chris Konyar 16:07

was, it was, so that was, I think that was a smart move, you know, with the new. With the new concept. Um, and then where the, where the current one is will be eventually just be green space. So we're just kind of like flipping the green space in the playground.

Sarah Frey 16:21

That's so smart. I would've never in a million years thought of that, so I just,

Chris Konyar 16:25

I didn't think of it. That was, I'm, I'm glad,

Sarah Frey 16:26

uh, smarter minds than mine are the ones running these projects.

Chris Konyar 16:29

I mean, I'll take credit for it, but it wasn't, it wasn't, uh, it wasn't my idea as well, but yeah, so we, I mean, I think you hit it on the head. We seem to have. Always something, something going down in the park on the construction side of things.

Sarah Frey 16:43

I love it.

Chris Konyar 16:44

Yeah. So do I. It, it keeps things interesting and you

Sarah Frey 16:47

know, and that's not even mentioning the stuff that you guys do outside of Jim Burnett Park.

Chris Konyar 16:51

Oh, yeah, yeah. The neighborhood parks, you know. Uh, just to remind people, we just, we just got the Patsy Klein Memorial Park.

Sarah Frey 16:59

Yeah, we did. Has everybody been by to look at it yet? Mike, have you been over there? Uh,

Chris Konyar 17:02

yes indeed.

Sarah Frey 17:03

It's great. It's be a beautiful space, isn't it? Yeah,

Chris Konyar 17:05

yeah. The amphitheater over there is, is pretty cool feature. So, you know, we just, we'll be adding that. Um, you know, that's gonna be added to our inventory, obviously, of neighborhood parks, which we have. That will be number 16. Whoa. Yeah.

Mike Ruddy 17:22

Get that via the Green Circle too.

Chris Konyar 17:24

Yep. Yeah, it's connected to the Green Circle. Love

Sarah Frey 17:26

that.

Chris Konyar 17:27

And then, you know, we've been talking about, um, the park over there on Middle Road as part of the Ward Plaza. Thing. So that'll be see the Valley Neighborhood Design District Park. Yeah, exactly.

Sarah Frey 17:39

Oh, now we're getting Mike excited.

Chris Konyar 17:40

So, yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm, I think a lot of people focus on Jim Barnett, but they forget that there's a lot of other green spaces throughout the city that we're also trying to. You know what I mean? Keep nice and

Sarah Frey 17:53

so usable. Well, we talked about the comprehensive plan earlier when we were talking about the agenda, but the city also has a strategic plan, and there was a really lofty goal in the strategic plan for a every resident to be within. What a how many minute walk apart? 10.

Chris Konyar 18:08

10 minute.

Sarah Frey 18:08

Man, I,

Chris Konyar 18:09

I actually love that goal, to be honest with you, and I think we've pretty much accomplished it. There is only real, I think we're down to one area. And, but I think that's gonna be solved if with the Green Space Initiative, with the, um, zero Pack Project.

Sarah Frey 18:25

Okay. And then

Chris Konyar 18:26

Zero Pack. And zero pack. Yeah. So, yeah. Um, so that would,

Sarah Frey 18:29

and what's that? What's Zero Park gonna look like? It's a fun name, by the way.

Chris Konyar 18:34

We haven't figured that out yet. Well,

Sarah Frey 18:35

okay.

Mike Ruddy 18:36

We're getting there. It can be Right, right. Adjacent to, of course, zero pack and redevelopment of that, which is a key component of the Cider Hill Neighborhood Design District. Uh, so all of those things bode well for the future of that area.

Sarah Frey 18:49

Yeah, they do. Well, even just the sidewalk up Cameron Street in, in front of zero pack. That looks like a beautiful place to just take it and walk your dog.

Chris Konyar 18:57

Absolutely. Yeah. I drive that every day home and I say it's, it looks very nice. Yeah, and Ken, the Kenry project is super nice as well,

Sarah Frey 19:05

and we'll be talking about that very soon on the Ross Review. Don't worry, folks.

Chris Konyar 19:08

So, yeah, there where there's no, uh, no signs of slowing down right now. For the, uh, for the park system.

Sarah Frey 19:16

That's amazing. All right, so we've talked about the facility stuff. Let's talk about some programmings. What, what are some of the most exciting programmatic things going on for parks right now? What you most excited about? Well, I mean, you

Chris Konyar 19:25

mentioned it, you mentioned it uh, earlier. Uh, you know, our fall event is, has gotten to be pretty awesome. It's like, you know, a lot brings a lot of families.

Sarah Frey 19:34

Spooky fun.

Chris Konyar 19:35

Yeah, spooky fun, which. I just, I like to see that. I like the, you know, when it brings out the family kind of atmosphere. Um, and it just has a really good vibe, you know, the music's playing. Uh, you have a lot of, uh, kids as well as adults that, you know, show up in the spirit of Halloween in costume. Um, it also brings a lot of our other city departments together, uh, which I really like to see. It's kind of like a collaborative effort, uh, to put a, you know. Uh, a really nice, uh, family event together for the community. Uh, so it kind of checks a lot of the boxes and then when you see it unfold, you know, everybody's having a good time. And I think Halloween kind of brings that out.

Sarah Frey 20:20

I love Halloween. Yeah.

Chris Konyar 20:21

And then, you know, the kids, there's so many different activities with the music playing and the crafts. And then we have like a trick or treating feature and the touch a truck kind of stuff. And then you can buy the boo bundle, which is, you know, you can cook s'mores, which is, you know, kind of synonymous with fall of course. Um, so it's just, you know, it's just nice. And then we added the trolley feature. So tell

Sarah Frey 20:47

me more about the trolley.'cause this is brand new this year.

Chris Konyar 20:49

Yeah. This is just. And it just an awesome addition to this particular event. It's the city trolley is gonna drive through the back of the park and we have, I think we have eight or nine groups. That, uh, volunteer groups that set up scenes. Um, what

Sarah Frey 21:07

kind of scenes? Well, you know, like

Chris Konyar 21:08

the spooky, it's spooky fud. I love it. I don't wanna give away all the spooky scene. Um, and you drive through and you, you know, there's some, there's some cool stuff to see and it, it just, that's. It adds like another layer of excitement to the thing. The bad news is, is we sold out what didn't. Well, I guess that's good news for, for Parks. I didn't book mine

Sarah Frey 21:28

yet. Oh. Worst news ever. Oh, you're gonna

Chris Konyar 21:30

have to like you, maybe you could pull some string. I was gonna say, I might have to

Sarah Frey 21:33

call in some favors over Parks Rec. Yeah.

Chris Konyar 21:35

Yeah. I think you, you'll, you'll be all right. But yeah. So, which just goes to show how popular spooky fun has become. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we sold it out, which I didn't think we were going to, but. That's, I guess that's good news. Maybe not good news for everybody if you don't get to do it. But obviously looking forward, we'll have some adjustments to make as we, as we do this every year. We'll done two trolleys. Yeah, maybe three. But, uh, so again, it's just constantly, I, I give our staff credit, um, kind of taking some of the stuff that we have, especially the popular things, tweaking it and, and making some cool additions. And it just feels like it gets better every year and more people come and they just have fun. So October 17th, um. You know, the doors open at five 30, encourage you to come over and spend some time with us. And I, I, you know, I can

Sarah Frey 22:32

almost, and I'll be there with my, with my kids.

Chris Konyar 22:34

Yeah. It's, it's fun. You know, it's, it's a, it's a good time. Um, and we look forward to these things. And then we, we added the Veteran's Day. That's another. Event that we're particularly proud of, especially with the war memorials in the park. Mm-hmm. Um, so this will be a great opportunity to highlight those two areas of the park while saluting all of our veterans. You know, my father has it marked on his calendar, so he'll be there. He's a veteran, so. He'll partake in the activities and get some free lunch.

Sarah Frey 23:04

Yeah. I'm so excited for it.

Chris Konyar 23:07

So, um, yeah, those, I mean, spooky fun, veteran's Day, I mean, those highlight and then that leads into the holiday season, of course. Um, and we're the,

Sarah Frey 23:17

my favorite event

Chris Konyar 23:19

we're the, we're the parade people. I think, uh, you know, the Monday after Thanksgiving, um, I feel like the city kind of kicks off. Holiday season. I mean, not, you know, more like, you know, the, the, the post Thanksgiving, you know, once you're finished with Thanksgiving, we're like the first event that Monday, you really usher

Sarah Frey 23:40

Santa in. Yeah,

Chris Konyar 23:40

yeah, exactly. Um, so we're looking for parade apps. We already have a bunch of apps that already came in. The deadline's November 3rd. We do, you know, it is a Monday night and it's, the weather could be a little dicey. So That's

Sarah Frey 23:55

amazing though. I try to remind, it's my favorite event.

Chris Konyar 23:57

I try to remind people it's not Apple Blossom. It's not a five hour parade.

Sarah Frey 24:02

No, but you know what it is. It's like a Hallmark Christmas movie come to life in our little town. Here we go. And it is my fa with all the, everybody puts lights on the bands and the tuba have like Christmas lights on'em. It's. The coolest thing, and if you've never been, I cannot encourage you enough to go.

Chris Konyar 24:18

Yeah. It's, it's become a tradition. Um, and then we finish and then we finish the parade with the, with the Christmas tree lighting. Of course, which is, you know, lights up old town. Ah, yes. So everybody watches the parade, gathers downtown.

Sarah Frey 24:34

Santa comes out, Santa

Chris Konyar 24:35

comes out. He's our, you know, guest of honor. You know, I'm just impressed

Sarah Frey 24:39

that, you know, Santa

Chris Konyar 24:40

Push the, of

Sarah Frey 24:41

course I'm in. You are a man of many talents, Chris Goer,

Chris Konyar 24:44

parks and Rec for 26 years. We're first, you know, Santa obviously tight. Yeah. Uh, but he'll, he'll push the lever and light up the tree. Um, so yeah, I mean, if you wanna participate. Now's the time to, to get your parade in the deadline, uh, November 3rd. So get your app in and we wanna make sure we, you know, try to include as many people as I can. But like I said. You know, there, there is people that get turned away after the deadline just because

Sarah Frey 25:12

the, don't miss your deadline folks. Yeah. Get

Chris Konyar 25:13

your, get your app in. Uh, but again, we look forward to, uh, to those events, fall events, and then the, the new Veterans Day. And then of course the holiday, the holiday stuff. And then we have programs. One of my favorite programs is our PB and j club. We, they call'em we ones Wednesday.

Sarah Frey 25:32

It is the best name ever.

Chris Konyar 25:34

It's pretty cool if you haven't seen that. It's, it's a preschool. So the first and third Wednesday, uh, you know, they get into all kinds of activities. We set up the gym with sort of like a romper room esque, uh, where the kids just kind of get after it.

Sarah Frey 25:50

Love it,

Chris Konyar 25:50

you know. Um. Yeah. And so you just stop by. Uh, and then Molly has done, you know, story time and crafts and, and kind of some special things. Um, they hit that on the first Wednesday. The third Wednesday is mainly just getting after it. Like they just

Sarah Frey 26:07

Wearing your kid out. Yep.

Chris Konyar 26:08

Wearing your kid out. That's the name of the game. And the gym, it's pretty impressive. Uh, I would encourage parents of the young ones to come by and check it out. Um, so first Wednesday of every month, we already started. So we already had one. The third Wednesday in October is coming up here shortly. Um, so stop by. But if you can't make October, November, December, January, February, March, April, I think,

Sarah Frey 26:36

uh, I think March.

Chris Konyar 26:37

March, you may be right. I should know that. I can check it right here actually, because

Sarah Frey 26:42

Chris is referring to this month's, uh, parks and rec activity news newsletter, which you can sign up for@winchesterva.gov slash parks.

Chris Konyar 26:49

It is March.

Sarah Frey 26:51

Get it right into your

Chris Konyar 26:51

inbox. Yes, absolutely. And then we have basketball. So basketball time. This is

Sarah Frey 26:57

actually Chris's favorite thing. Yes,

Chris Konyar 26:59

it is my favorite thing. I go way back. I got my start in sports and I ran basketball leagues for a long time. So it is my jam. But our basketball league, last year we, it, I think we were approaching the 30 team.

Sarah Frey 27:14

Wow.

Chris Konyar 27:15

Which has gotten pretty big. Uh, city kids. Free. No.

Sarah Frey 27:20

Free.

Chris Konyar 27:20

Yep. No cost.

Sarah Frey 27:22

My favorite. It's my favorite number.

Chris Konyar 27:23

Yep. So no reason. You know what I mean? Get involved if you wanna try out hoops. Now is the time to register for, for those leagues. Uh, we start at age five, five to eight is like the peewee version, the smaller kids and then nine to 14 boys and girls, um, for like the. You know, a little bit older. Once you get to 15, you start playing. You're in the high school realm. We, we were hands off when it gets to that level. But yeah, the leagues probably last year went really well. You know, a lot of kids, a lot of teams had a great, um, group of volunteer coaches, um, that kind of bought into our philosophy. No problems. Very positive. And you know, hoops is one of those things where you gotta give it a go.

Sarah Frey 28:12

Rex Sports in general, I love Rex Sports. I can't talk about it enough. Yeah. Like let kids learn to love the game. I love it. Yeah,

Chris Konyar 28:18

we have a lot. I mean, right now in the fall, I like to see, you know, blue Ridge is mm-hmm. You know, one of our. Our top park partners, and they're out, obviously out on the turf along with all the other neighborhood park fields. But their organization has gotten, you know, they've gotten more kids this year, more teams, uh, so I don't know

Sarah Frey 28:36

how they fit more teams. If you hadn't built Preston Field, where would they be?

Chris Konyar 28:41

I don't know. That's a good question. I

Sarah Frey 28:43

literally don't know

Chris Konyar 28:44

because every time I come outta my office, you know, to go home for the evening or when I come back to the park in the evening. It's a full house of Blue Ridge players on those fields.

Sarah Frey 28:55

Those fields are rarely, if ever empty.

Chris Konyar 28:58

No. There it is not. I mean, I, I came in this morning and we have a group of, uh, restaurant workers because they work like the three to 11 shift uhhuh, so they have the morning free. So two mornings a week they bump, they, they got the field and bump out there and

Sarah Frey 29:14

love it. They're,

Chris Konyar 29:14

they're playing soccer. Oh, really? So. Even, you know, eight in the morning on a, on a Thursday, you're like, what is going on?

Sarah Frey 29:21

So everybody should start up their midweek, middle of the day, lunchtime, soccer leagues. That's what I'm hearing.

Chris Konyar 29:27

Yeah. I mean, I'm up for it. I love it. But yeah, the park partners, you know,'cause we got football, it's football season so you got tackle and flag going on. Uh, you know, the soccer Winchester baseball's on the field. They have a nice thing going for their fall leagues. So there's like a lot of youth activities going on right now. That's kind of cool. And then that just rolls right into, you know, like our basketball stuff.

Sarah Frey 29:50

So. Fantastic.

Chris Konyar 29:51

Yeah, it's good stuff.

Sarah Frey 29:52

Never a dull moment over at Jim Burnt Park. Well, nope. Chris Coner, thank you so much for joining us on addition of the Rouse Review.

Chris Konyar 30:00

Yeah, enjoy talking to you guys.

Sarah Frey 30:01

Thanks. All. It was a packed, full episode full of all the great stuff, parks and Rec. But until next time, we'll see you around City Hall.