It's the end of May and parents are focussed on the last few weeks of school.  But Town of Lansing Recreation Director Steve Colt says now is the time to sign up for summer recreation programs.  Many of the programs are filling up, but Colt says he especially needs parents to sign up baseball players for the 13 year old team and the Babe Ruth team for ages 13 through 15.

"We have an immediate need for summer older baseball players," he says.  "It's fine to sign up over the weekend or Monday.  But we need to get that because we need to make a commitment to the league we play in."

Younger aged teams are nearly full, especially the 10U and 12U teams.  But the older travel teams are in flux, including a 17U softball team.

A one day Irish dance clinic on July 25th is brand new this year.  Jesse Hoselton will conduct the workshop, and is also teaching two one-week Mandarin Chinese language and culture camps in July.  Hoselton is a certified TCRG Irish dance teacher who has danced, choreographed and taught dance for over 13 years in America and China.

One of the most popular summer offerings is the summer day camp in Myers Park.  This year there is a big difference.  In the past the Recreation Department offered three two-week sessions.  This summer six one-week sessions will allow families to tailor their camp schedule around other family plans.

"It gives families more flexibility to sign up," Colt says.  "In the past they might sign up for a session, yet miss half of it because they were going to be gone on a family vacation.  This way you can really fine tune it to the times you are going to be around.  Each week has its own theme, and we are really lucky to have a strong group coming back under the direction of Cathy Moseley.  The staff is awesome and the choices are great."

Jennifer Miller (Paddle-N-More) has also expanded her classes, including the highly popular Wind and Waves class.  This year she will offer more sessions in sailing, wind surfing, canoeing, kayaking, and stand-up paddle-boarding.  Since opening the business at Myers Park in 2012 it has expanded quite a bit and now has a second location at Taughannock Falls State Park.  The offerings at Myers will run through July and August for students entering 6th grade and older who are rated at level 5 of more for swimming.

Colt says most summer offerings are filling fast, including horse riding camp, art, ceramics, archery, destination exploration, band camp, orchestra camp, private music lessons, cooking camp, swimming, tennis, golf, Karate, cross country and track, soccer, basketball, reading for 4th graders and music for toddlers, Spanish, rock climbing, robotics, and small fry football.

Full information is available in the summer recreation booklet available in the Town Hall and the Recreation Department Web site.

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