Carol Stream park registrations down

Despite gains in some areas, the Carol Stream Park District saw a 7 percent dip in total summer program registrations from this time last year, Deputy Director Rick Hanetho said.

Much of the decrease in the 5,371 total enrollment came from the park district's summer camp programs, Hanetho told parks commissioners Monday during his quarterly operations report. At this time last year, the park district processed 5,773 registrations.

Still, parks officials had some successes this summer. Powerplay, the park district's new virtual fitness center, received more attention as 1,500 participants tried out the video game-inspired fitness equipment at the Simkus Recreation Center.

Despite wet weather in August, Hanetho said Coyote Crossings Mini Golf is on pace to surpass its sales figures from last year. The park district's struggling $1 million miniature golf course processed 14,307 rounds of golf between June and August, a 5 percent decrease from the same period last year.

Hanetho said the park district has seen a growing interest in adult recreational programming. In particular, the park district's summer softball league increased this year to 54 teams, from 32 teams a year ago. And the park district registered more than 200 people for its senior programming.

"The growth in senior programs has been the biggest feather in our cap," Hanetho said.

The park district is also seeing some success from measures it took last year to shoo away Canada geese from its parks. The park district hired a company to chase geese off its properties.

Hanetho said the program seemed to be working in decreasing the amount of bird droppings found on park fields.

"I can tell you just as a visual," Hanetho said, "there are nowhere near as many geese on our parks as there were last year."