With the turn of the season ahead, Newton County recreation is a few weeks away from many of its sports kicking off after some changes at Turner Lake.

This summer, Newton County received a recreation upgrade with turf being installed at the softball and baseball fields at the Turner Lake complex.

With some fields getting outfield upgrades, infield upgrades or both, each field in the complex was upgraded in some capacity.

According to Newton County recreation director Dwayne Mask, the returfing of the softball fields is possibly the start of future renovations.

“We are to a point where we will need a new complex after not too long,” Mask said. “This is the only rec center we have, so we would like to get a new rec center in a different part of the county. We need a new gym, so hopefully we can throw a new one in there. We are kind of topped out in basketball — we will have about 650 kids and we only have three floors.

“We would love to come back in the next few years and turf our football fields.”

Even with the recreation department not doing any team sports during the summer, the basketball courts, pickleball courts and water attractions at parks have kept people coming out.

“Summer stays pretty busy when school is out. We do pickleball four days a week over here, plus an open gym with kids being out of school,” Mask said. “Denny Dobbs [with] our splash pad — it stays packed all summer.”

The rise of pickleball is something Mask noticed as the rec began to improve attendance after the COVID pandemic.

So much so that the department added multiple courts.

“The last three years, our numbers are starting to go back up. We have rebounded from COVID,” Mask said. “Pickleball has become big. We really weren't doing pickleball but our seniors wanted to do it. We laid off a couple courts in the gym. We have six courts that are full Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning. Then Wednesday nights we play.” 

Newton County rec deputy director, Kale Curtis, spoke about the rise of pickleball at City Pond, too.

“We have eight outdoor courts at City Pond. We have four tennis courts out there then we transformed two of the tennis courts to four pickleball courts each,” Curtis said. “We still have tennis out there, but most of the time you go out there it is just people playing pickleball. Pickleball has really grown.”

Mask and Curtis have been in their respective roles since 2020 and 2021 respectively. Together, they share over 60 years of experience at Newton County recreation.

Once summer is over, things get even busier for Mask, Curtis and Newton County rec.

Along with football that begins at the end of July, volleyball camps, cheer camps and fishing are other sports that are on the docket for Mask.

Outside of basketball and pickleball, Mask spoke to the other uses of Newton County parks and rec that consistently bring people out.

“We have 13 parks throughout the county. Turner Lake is probably the busiest with Denny Dobbs being next,” Mask said. “At Turner Lake we have outdoor walking tracks, indoor walking tracks, fishing, a cardio room and a banquet room we rent out. Denny Dobbs is our next busiest. From March to November it is rented out.”

Newton County parks is set to receive a new addition ahead of the fall season when Spring Hill Park opens later this month.

“We are opening a new park, Spring Hill, on the 30th of this month,” Mask said. “It is super nice. It will have a visiting center, a pavilion, restrooms, a nice big playground, a water feature — not a splash pad, but a water feature — walking track, disc golf [and a] community garden. It is very nice.”