Collingwood has a new pair of basketball nets and half-courts.
Town officials and supporters unveiled two three-on-three basketball courts recently installed at Heritage Park.
The courts have been planned for the site for about the last three years as part of several changes made by the town to the park.
Jennifer Parker, coordinator of community well-being and inclusion for the Town of Collingwood, said she has seen the challenges facing many recreational and competitive sports during the pandemic, and noted the difficulty many sports teams have had in finding space to practice and play.
She's glad to see long-standing plans for the courts come to fruition, and hopes they will support and encourage more recreation in the park.
Kim Bollozos, secretary for the Collingwood Trailblazers Basketball Club, said three-on-three basketball is making inroads in the sport.
Parker said the town is hoping to work with the basketball club to organize a three-on-three tournament in the spring.
Most importantly, said Bollozos, the new outdoor courts provide access to hoops, which many basketball players have gone without during the pandemic.
The Trailblazers typically practice in school gyms, but no schools have been allowing the teams to use their gym space during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a normal year, the Trailblazers Club is made up of 10-15 teams, plus the development teams for younger players. The club is for school-aged children (5-18 years old), and is 100 per cent volunteer-run.
Collingwood Councillor Bob Madigan and Councillor Steve Berman were at the unveiling to represent town council.
"This is truly the important stuff in our community ... it's for the kids," said Madigan.
According to parks manager Wendy Martin, the final upgrade planned for Heritage Park is the replacement of the fence around the original ball diamond at the corner of Second and Spruce Streets.
In the last five-to-seven years, the town has added a skateboard park, a dog park, a junior ball diamond, a community garden, and the three-on-three basketball courts to the property at Heritage Park. The site also includes Centennial Aquatic Centre, and Collingwood's fire station.
Beside the new courts, the community gardens are still producing after a successful second season bearing fruits and vegetables.
This year, the gardens at Heritage Park and Sunset Point produced more than 3,000 servings of vegetables throughout the growing season, and those were given to families, individuals, and organizations in Collingwood.
The gardens were planted in 2020 when a section of paved space was removed with the help of the Environment Network. The maintenance and harvest of the gardens is supported by the Simcoe County Community Action Plan for Children and Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program.
The gardens and the courts have been funded through community grants and local business donations including: Green Communities Canada, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and the Frank Cowan Company Home Town Program.
Local nurseries, Free Spirit Gardens, Pollinate Collingwood and the Collingwood Garden Club and Horticultural Society shared knowledge, expertise and resources.
Students from CCI assisted in building the garden boxes and local businesses including the Georgian Bay Group Real Estate Team assisted in the purchasing of infrastructure.
A portion of the costs for the basketball courts came from the town's parks budget.