Transcript
Wisconsin Rapids Park and Recreations Department – October ‘25
Rapids Report · Wed Oct 8, 2025
Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, probably brought to you by Crockett Sceptic
for this Wednesday, October 8th, 2025.
Have your host, James here.
We're joined right now by our great friends in the Wisconsin Rapids Parks and Recs Department.
We have Dawn Disarcy with us right now, Recreation Supervisor, over there.
Dawn, good to have you with us.
Thanks for having me.
Always appreciate the time from you and the team over there.
Everything you guys put into the community, we greatly appreciate that.
And we've got some things to touch on today.
We're going to talk about classes to start off, but some changes that have gone on with
some of the classes.
Yes, yes.
For our gymnastics classes, especially, we had some date changes due to our instructor
availability.
And we are looking for a gymnastics instructor for our winter months, so we can kind of
talk about that a little bit too.
So with the changes, I'm sure that people that are signed up are already up to date on
those, but just going over as far as that, is it going to affect anybody or affect anybody
joining currently if they wanted to?
Yes.
The dates are all updated in our system, but in the flyer, they are not.
So they have changed since the publication of the flyer or the printing of the flyer,
I should say.
So we just have like our tumble bugs, tumble tikes, youth tumblers, all of those dates
are updated on our Recreation registration page, but I can go through them if you want
me to otherwise.
Sure.
Sure.
Actually, for all of the classes, the dates are consistently changed.
So the November 7th classes have now switched to November 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th.
So they've all switched to Wednesdays instead of Wednesdays and Fridays.
We had kind of a couple days for classes, and now we're just sticking with our Wednesdays
because that's when our instructor is available.
December 5th, 12th, 17th, and 19th right now, we're sticking with the same dates because
we do need an instructor.
So a little plug there if anybody's interested in teaching our gymnastics classes.
Well, let you know how to get in touch with Don before we wrap up the show.
Sounds good.
And actually, we've got October 8th, which is today, we have classes starting today,
so it's today, next Wednesday, the 22nd and 29th.
So that was another change for our gymnastic schedule.
So not too many changes, but it affects quite a few kids because there's a lot of signups
for the kids.
Yeah.
And I appreciate updating our audience about it.
Sure.
Thank you.
Good to know about that.
Any other things we wanted to touch on with the classes and the beginnings of those?
Yeah.
So we have got some cozy craft classes that are really fun.
We had one last week, which was, actually it was Wednesday.
It was the wine glasses, so we had like fall and Halloween wine glasses super cute.
The second we had a leaf and pine cone window hanging, which I saw the pictures of those
and those turned out super cute.
But we still have classes coming up.
Tomorrow evening, we have a macrame ghost class.
That sounds fun.
It is so cute.
Such a cute thing.
We have pictures of those in our flyer.
Yeah, they're really good.
They look really cute.
Yeah.
And then we've got events set up on Facebook, too, with your online.
So you can kind of see a, you know, bigger image of it coming up.
We had to actually switch our peaking ghosts painting class to October 20th.
Okay.
It was supposed to be this last Monday, but our instructor had an emergency come up.
So it is going to be on October 20th.
That event was updated on Facebook, so hopefully everybody can see that.
It was also updated in our software and so for registering it's all current there.
We have another wine glass painting class coming up.
And that one, everybody gets two glasses to paint.
These are the trees, like those snowy trees or snowflakes.
They're so unique.
Yeah.
And they can take an ordinary wine glass and make it look so beautiful and special.
They can.
It's a fun art.
I went, uh, just prepping for this and everything.
I was looking a little bit, and a guy, I went down a rabbit hole a lot of, like, people
come up with some really cool stuff for them.
They do.
They do.
I mean, you probably know her instructor, Mary Beth.
Amazing.
Mary Beth is amazing.
She is.
She really is.
She is.
And she does such a great job of making painting relatively easy for something does not
know how to paint.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was one of the things that I thought was so cool about it is all of these were
really cool, really unique.
Look like something you could buy in a store.
But also didn't look like it was anything like you had to be Picasso to do or something.
Like it looked pretty good.
It looked like fun to be able to do as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I'm looking forward to seeing how those turn out.
We also have one more class on December 1st, and those are our pretty poor ornaments.
And we'll make two of those.
Those are really fun.
They basically pour the paint inside of them and kind of swirl it around and it really
turns out neat.
Another nice picture of one of those too.
And yeah, you're right.
It is so unique.
One in the lifetime kind of things are created with that stuff.
For sure.
For sure.
Yeah.
So those are our art classes coming up for this fall and into the month of December.
We also wanted to remind everybody about swim club.
That is coming up.
It is right around.
Well, you'd already have it going on, I believe, right?
Just with club where it's just going to be getting.
Just going to be starting.
Yeah, we had our kick off meeting on Monday evening.
And then our first practice comes up on the 13th.
So this coming Monday.
Is there things to know as far as what swim club is or for anybody out there that might
be interested in it, especially if we're getting to the colder months here and we'll have
more on that in a moment?
I know how badly people like, okay, I can't get to the lake anymore, but I still need my
water.
I still need to get the water.
I need to be able to do this.
Yeah.
So this is intended for ages 5 to 18.
You don't have to be an awesome swimmer when you join.
We do have, I'm sure, but you know, it's the smart lean instructor.
We have her helping out with the younger kids so that they can really learn how to swim,
learn their stroke development because we really believe that stroke development is super
important when you're becoming a competitive swimmer.
So there's not really a tryout for the club, but we would like somebody to be able to swim
one length of the pool.
Sure.
That's kind of understandable.
Yeah.
So between ages 5 and 18, swim one length of pool of the pool and that is kind of what's
required of our swimmers.
Obviously, they're going to be swimming a whole lot more than that when they get going,
but we've got practices set up Monday through Thursday, a little bit shorter time for the
ages 10 and under group and then a little bit longer practice times for the 10 and up.
We also have, it's not in our flyer yet because this kind of was discussed after the flyer
was complete, but the YMCA is actually offering a strength, it's like a dry land strength
training a couple times a week for our swimmers.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah.
So it's very, very reasonably priced.
They want to be able, they'll be able to take about 15 kids and that would be in addition
to a swim club.
So if somebody is on our Kraken Club, we did talk about that at Monday at the meeting.
Cool.
And they have that option to join the, you know, do some strength training on the side
in addition to practices.
Wisconsin itself, but especially central Wisconsin is such a great history of swimming and
whether it's in competition form or just in general in the recreation and everything
of loving swimming.
I know I've got friends that are looking for things to do other than, you know, in the
winter and being a part of a pool league or something like that and no pun intended
with wearing a pool, the game, but I, but this is something that I think could speak to
a lot of people in those age ranges that really, you know, looking for something to do
and then it's getting a little colder out there and everything.
But something that's so rewarding, like no matter how you place or what have you
or anything, swimming is one of the best exercises you can get for your body, longevity of
your health.
And it's just fun.
It is.
It is.
It is.
And it's important to know how to swim, right?
Yeah.
Because there's so much water around here.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun.
Our kids that are in the club are great.
I have a great parents group as well.
We do want our swimmers to compete in two meets, but there are like, I don't know, what
are there?
I come to 12.
Yeah.
I think I come to 12.
A lot of swim meets.
Yeah.
One of which is our home meets.
So there's not, you know, you don't necessarily have to swim competitively if you are in
the club, but our swimmers tend to want to do that because, you know, as they're practicing,
they're beating their records, their personal best, and it's a fun competition.
It's a great way to put it.
A fun competition really is.
It is.
And I mean, our swimmers have done so well, I don't know if you followed them throughout
this.
Oh, yeah.
This is our third season now, and we have, you know, some that have gone to state, and we
have just some really, really good swimmers in our club, and they're having fun.
We've had a chance to talk with a little crackings and some of that too.
Just really enjoyed it.
I'll be following them.
Yeah, definitely be.
I have been following them.
We'll continue too.
Oh, yeah.
Just because of the, it's such a fun program.
And the swim club is another fun part of this.
It is.
Definitely.
And don't, one of the remind everybody out there again, as it's getting colder out
there, and we've got some adult leagues kicking it up here pretty soon.
We do.
We do.
We have our pickleball ladder league, and that is just about full.
So we have two more spots left for fall only, but our full season has pretty much filled
up.
So we'll see how things shape up in the winter.
Maybe we can open up a couple more spots.
That is set to start on the 20th, so that is coming up really quickly.
Yeah.
And that runs until April 13th, if you do the full season.
We have our men's non-competitive basketball league, and then we have our volleyball league.
We have a women's and then a co-ed team.
And those are Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Basketball is on Wednesdays.
As much as I love basketball, and I love talking about it as much as I can, volleyball
is one of the biggest growing sports there is.
There are so many more people on every level, high school collegiate, and even on a pro level,
we're seeing the numbers rise while people getting into volleyball, watching volleyball,
all that.
Being a part of it on any level is such, again, a great exercise for you.
It works out the whole body.
It's a fun team activity, you know, working with others and everything.
And it's got a great, great league here going on.
Yeah, we have great leagues.
So those are coming up, registration deadline for those is next Friday, because then we
actually start early in November.
So this is coming up fast even though the weather now is maybe starting to feel like
fall.
It's here.
Yeah, yeah.
It doesn't.
Don't let Mother Nature fool you here.
No.
It's coming quicker than we realize.
And along with all of this that we're talking about, a couple of things to keep in mind.
We've only scratched the surface of things going on with our parks and erect department.
Everything encouraged you to find out more about that.
And if you are somebody that could be an instructor or maybe volunteer with some of these activities,
it's one of the greater ways to put back into your community.
It usually doesn't take a lot of time.
The department will work with you on this stuff.
And certainly if you're a young person out there, if you're looking at college applications
and some of those things, almost every college application is looking for volunteer hours
and volunteer.
You know, what have you done with your time in high school and some of that?
Working with a program like this, working with a group like this, it's, it looks so good
on that resume.
It does.
It does.
And all that said, it feels so good.
You can't put in the words how good it feels when you volunteer and you put back into
your community.
Sure.
Yes.
That is so true.
We do have a couple of, well, we've got one kid who's been extremely loyal to our swim
club.
He started out swimming with us and now he's been kind of an assistant coach.
And he's been volunteering.
So he's really enjoying that and he's not the only one.
There's a few others that have been volunteering and we can certainly use volunteers for the
swim club, but you really need a gymnastics instructor to cover our winter months.
So if anybody is interested in that, we do have our application on the city website.
I believe now with our new website, you can actually apply right online.
Yeah, it's what I've heard.
Yeah.
And if you know anybody spread the word about this too, you know, we've talked about this
on our sports shows and a number of other places.
These coaches without these coaches or we've talked about it with referees as well.
Without them, these kids don't get to do this.
These kids don't get an opportunity to have these experiences.
So being a part of this is, again, not only a great opportunity, but it feels so good
to be a part of.
And we know that I got a feeling there's somebody out there that can take that class.
It's got to be somebody.
I would hope so.
And actually speaking of referees and that sort of thing, we actually are taking applications
for a volleyball ref as well.
So I appreciate you bringing that up.
If you're interested in refing, that would be Tuesdays and or Thursdays.
We do have a few of our refs coming back.
We have another new one starting, but you know, depending on how many teams sign up, we're
probably going to need a couple more, so definitely apply.
And you know, we could always, if we have too many, that's a good thing.
That's a good thing.
So please don't hesitate to reach out and don't, if people do want to find out more about
registering for some of these classes or maybe volunteering or coaching or something,
what is the best way to contact?
Whatever works best for everybody, our website, wirapids.gov, we have a new web address.
Otherwise, our registration page is wr.activityreg.com.
You can always give our office a call at 715-421-824-0, whatever works best.
Don't appreciate you and the team and all the work you guys put in the community.
Thank you so much for the time putting up with my questions and all that.
Always good to see you.
You take care.
Thank you, you too.
And thank you, everybody, for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.
