NORWICH - The City of Norwich Youth Bureau recently wrapped up another successful Summer of programs and offerings for the area youth.

The Youth Bureau offered six trips this summer: Rail Explorers, Ross Park Zoo, tickets to a Rumble Ponies game, The Wild Animal Park, Wonderworks, and Water Safari. Each trip this year was hugely popular with ticket requests outnumbering availability. The Youth Bureau had planned only offering only five trips this year but through a generous donation, we were able to offer seventy tickets to the Rumble Ponies game. Overall, we had 399 kids and adults sign-up for the trips, up from last year’s 312. Unfortunately, we could only take 318 of those registered.

Kurt Beyer pool was open from June 24 to August 30, one week longer than in 2023. New this year, Kurt Beyer Pool was open to 8:00 PM on Saturdays. This year 5,383 people visited Kurt Beyer pool; this is the highest number since 2019.

Also, new at the pool this summer was Movie Night at Kurt Beyer. The Youth Bureau teamed up with The Place to offer the movie night in August. With the help of Guernsey Memorial Library, the movie Pirates of the Caribbean was shown at the pool while attendees got to swim.

This summer the Youth Bureau offered twelve programs this Summer for the area youth: baseball, basketball, cheer, flag football, karate, pickleball, soccer, softball, summer fun, club, swimming lessons, tennis, and ultimate frisbee. Programs were open to kids ages 8 to 13 years old. Over 430 kids registered in the programs this Summer. Swimming lessons were once again the most popular program with two hundred registrations, followed by basketball with thirty-eight, and karate with thirty-seven. Pickleball nearly doubled the number of registrations with fifteen this summer. The other sports had the following registered; baseball/softball – 27, cheer – 19, flag football – 30, soccer – 29, tennis – 26, Sumer Fun Club – 7, and ultimate frisbee – 3. 

All programs, except for swimming lessons, were conducted at Weiler Park.

The Youth Bureau teamed up with The Place to offer a Story Walk in Weiler Park all Summer. A story walk combines physical activity with literacy. It takes a children’s book, displayed page by along a walking path. This Summer, two stories were displayed along the walking path at Weiler Park.

This Summer the Youth Bureau hired 36 of the area youths as lifeguards and program instructors. These positions are a terrific opportunity for the area youth to get experience working. For many, these summer jobs are their first jobs.

All programs and trips sponsored by the Youth Bureau are free of charge for area youth. The City of Norwich contracts with the towns of North Norwich, Norwich, Plymouth, Preston and Pharsalia, which allows the city of Norwich to continue to offer these programs free of charge to area youth. For more information on programs offered by the Youth Bureau, you can follow them on Facebook.

-Anthony Testani, Norwich Youth Bureau Director