By Trevor Greenway
After 13 years at the helm of the Wakefield Recreation Association (WRA), president Patrick Poitras is stepping down.
And with no candidates stepping up to take his place, the association, which manages the Wakefield Sports Pad and Skatepark, the outdoor rink in the winter and various recreational programs – including the ever-popular pickleball – could disband altogether.
“There is at least a 50 per cent chance, if not more, that the Recreation Association is going to fold, and it’s just going to dissolve,” said current WRA president Poitras during the WRA Annual General Meeting on Nov. 21.
“That will be it. It’s not my objective to do that, and it’s not my choice.”
It was clear that Poitras was dejected at the November AGM, after he said he has spent the past two months trying to drum up support and rally the public to attend this year’s AGM with the hopes that a fresh new crop of volunteers would be interested in taking over the reins. But just six residents showed up: one was this reporter, another was community centre cooperative president Jewel Coté, three were from the pickleball group, and the last was Karen Bays from the membership involvement group MING.
“So we’re looking as a board of the Rec Association to hand over the reins to others,” added Poitras. “And I invited people, but nobody is here. I mean, you are not nobody, but none of the people I talked to came. We have tried hard. We have made publicity, and we’re trying to get people, but it’s not working,” he said to those six people who attended the AGM.
The WRA was founded in 1979 and has been the driving force behind some of the village’s biggest events and projects: from the annual Canada Day and Dragonfest parties to the Kraft Celebration Tour, which saw Wakefield get $25,000 in funding for a new skatepark in 2010.
Perhaps Poitras’ biggest contribution has been his dedication to the Wakefield outdoor rink, where he has spent countless hours in all kinds of weather with his crew of “rink rats” flooding the surface to ensure locals have a place to skate and play shinny. But that project has also taken its toll. With climate change bringing warmer winters, Poitras said he has watched the outdoor hockey season shrink to just six weeks.
“The outdoor rink in the winter is really weather dependent, and the last two years, it was very bad,” said Poitras. “It’s not so much fun to maintain because it’s a lot of thinking and planning what the weather is going to be – what do you need to do when you get snow and rain.”
Poitras said that the sports pad in the summer gets far more use than the outdoor rink does in the summer, with skateboarding, basketball and pickleball increasing in popularity.
“It’s growing – we are over 200 people now that play [pickleball] indoors and probably similar numbers outside,” said Blair Richardson, who manages the booking for the new-ish sport, which has proved particularly popular among senior citizens. “Over 500 have played at least once in the gym.”
According to WRA treasurer John Parker, the association is in good financial standing and brought in just over $17,000 of revenue for the 2023 year, most of which came from municipal and federal grants. The WRA had just over $18,000 in expenses, reported Parker. He said the majority of the WRA’s expenses this year were due to the $14,000 it budgeted for Canada Day last year when it featured a drone show. Poitras said he will stay on as president for the next two months in the hopes that a local steps forward to take his place, but he said he isn’t optimistic. The WRA will likely be absorbed into the Wakefield community centre cooperative, but it leaves a number of looming questions around planning for events such as Canada Day, Dragonfest and other WRA events as the centre is negotiating a building transfer agreement with the La Pêche.