Parks and Recreation outlines summer camp, girls flag football, youth leagues and expanded fishing rodeos with city collaboration

Dougherty County Parks and Recreation gave commissioners an update May 12 on planned youth and community programs for the coming year, and described a new collaboration with the City of Albany to expand the county’s traditional fishing rodeos.

Kayla Moore, superintendent of athletic centers and gyms, said the summer camp will return this year at Morningside Elementary with an emphasis on sports plus academics and arts through a “heroes” curriculum. The department plans to continue youth basketball, holiday programming at the Albany Civic Center and a newly introduced girls flag-football effort intended to give female athletes scholarship pathways.

Velvet Riggins, director of the Parks and Recreation department, said Parks and Rec will publish a full 12‑month calendar for county parks (Radium, Putney, Robert Cross and others) and asked commissioners to follow the ARPD social page for updates. Commissioners requested the department provide the exact dates for events and to route dates to county administration for scheduling and promotion.

On fishing rodeos — a recurring county event — County and City staff discussed an expanded plan: in addition to the two trout/restocking events provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that typically supply fish, the City of Albany will purchase and supply fish for two additional rodeos, resulting in four fishing events in the county this year. Chuck Mathis, Public Works, and department staff clarified the schedule: the traditional “Free Fishing Saturday” (first Saturday in June) will proceed as usual, the city-sponsored rodeo will follow (June 18), and additional events are planned for September and another date to be announced.

Commissioners asked who will host and manage the events. Riggins and Mathis said the events will be a collaboration of county and city; the county will host its scheduled rodeos and work with the city for the additional events. Commissioners asked Parks and Rec to provide a full schedule and to coordinate logistics including who will purchase fish, staffing responsibilities and a contact list for event-day coordination.

Staff also noted planned park improvements, including resurfacing or blacktopping consideration for several courts (Driscoll, Robert Cross, CW Heath, Gordon) and continued programming at the Albany Civic Center. The department said a complete calendar and proposed budget impacts will be circulated to commissioners.