Brookhaven Recreation Department leaders hope to have a new playground option for local children by the end of summer.

     Director Terry Reid announced during Wednesday’s Brookhaven Kiwanis Club meeting that Mississippi Development Authority paperwork has been signed for new playground equipment at City Park on Main Street. The project calls for $100,000 from MDA and $30,000 from the city.

     “We got the last MDA grant they’re going to give,” Reid said. “We were very lucky.”

     Reid said it will take about a month to receive bids on the project.

     “Hopefully by mid-July, we’ll have equipment in there and can start building,” the director said.

     He estimated assembly would take about a week.

     The new playground equipment, which will be adjacent to the spray park, will replace aging facilities that have been in place since the 1970s.

     The City Park playground will join MDA grant-funded playgrounds at Bicentennial and Bethel parks. The Bicentennial Park equipment is 4 years old, the equipment at Bethel 2 years old.

     The playground planned for City Park will be bigger than either Bicentennial or Bethel and feature more slides and other additions, Reid has said.

     “Once we get that park built, everything’s going to be a lot better,” Reid said.

     In other activities, Reid told the club that BRD is entering its “wild time” with summer approaching and T-ball and softball teams starting up. He said there are 24 T-ball teams planned for this year.

     Reid praised the role that parents are playing in the ball programs’ success. He said nearly all coaches in the league are parents.

     “There’s not many programs that can say that,” he said. “It’s amazing the parental support we have.”

     Reid also mentioned the recent fishing rodeo and the department’s annual Easter egg hunt at Mamie Martin Elementary School. He said about 1,000 eggs were placed for each of the school’s three classes: kindergarten, first and second grade.

     “It touched a lot of kids,” he said.

     Kail Garrett, the new director at the Jimmy Furlow Senior Citizen Center, updated the club on upcoming activities at the facility. Among those are an identify theft prevention workshop and a talent show, which is scheduled for June 14.

     The recreation department opened its spray parks on May 1 and will be available for use until Sept. 30, Reid said. He indicated the Bethel and Bicentennial parks are already being heavily used.

     “Bicentennial is covered up with kids,” Reid said.