Warsaw Parks and Recreation has activities for everyone

ter for Lakes and Streams and the Warsaw Community Public Library,” she said.

Warsaw Parks and Recreation has a calendar filled with family-friendly events planned for the community throughout the year. A lot goes into planning those events and ensuring there is something for everyone to do and enjoy.

“There are 19 parks in Warsaw,” said Recreation Director Stephanie Schaefer. “We don’t use all of those. There are some that we use more often — Municipal Park, Central Park, Kelly Park — we use Lucerne Park a lot, too. We have beautiful parks here in Warsaw. I’m very proud of them. I think that comes back to Larry (Plummer) and Shaun (Gardner). They work really hard maintaining those parks and making them beautiful. That way when I make an event or have a program in one of those parks, they look great.”

Schaefer oversees all of the programs, events and concerts that take place in the parks. She plans events for children, teens, adults and seniors and loves communicating with each of those groups to ensure everyone is having a great time at whatever event is going on.

“Some of our new programs for 2023 that I’m very excited about are the Mommy and Son dance,” said Schaefer. “We’ve always had a daddydaughter dance and have had a lot of people asking for one for moms and sons. We are going to be having one of those in May. We are going to be having some pickleball clinics for adults and children. I’ve added a painting class for seniors that will be held in October. We’ve added some new forms of art in our “Art in the Park” classes to give people some experiences with new forms of art, such as jewelry-making, macrame, water color paintings, canvas paintings — just looking at new ways to add art to those programs.”

She said a big goal is making those fit inside her budget and making use of partners and outside resources, adding “organization is huge in this job.”

“I have formed some great partnerships in the community like the Lilly Cen-

“I think these partnerships have been a successful addition to our programming and I’m very thankful for everyone who’s been involved in that. I like people to be happy and to have something to do in our community. I try to keep all programs low cost or free. That really drives me to look for different resources here, and that’s why those partnerships are important, too.”

Schaefer said she enjoys creating new programs and events that engage the community. She believes that every individual should have an opportunity to enjoy and participate in recreational activities here through the parks department.

“When I travel or visit parks or I’m out in nature, its just very relaxing,” she said.

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