The Rec in Detroit Lakes opens June 5; free summer programs for kids

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Rec, Detroit Lakes’ youth-run, outdoor recreation center, will be opening for the summer on June 5.

The Rec is supervised by young adults, typically high school aged or slightly older, and features myriads of activities and sports to play with younger kids. 

And, while the program is free for all kids of any age, attendees of The Rec’s usually start showing up between ages 8 to 9 years old.

Kim Bettcher, a programmer at the Detroit Lakes Community and Cultural Center, said kids get to The Rec in a variety of ways.

“We have kids that will ride their bikes down there,” said Bettcher. “We have kids that will maybe walk down there from their houses, or get dropped off, but they come and go. So, probably that 8-year-old, 9-year-old, is probably a little bit better, if they are going to be down there by themselves. Often times we maybe will have a parent that will let them go for a little while, let them have some independence, and then go back and pick them up.”

Activities at The Rec can range from team sports to kids seeing how many consecutive jumps they can do on a pogo stick. The Rec also has its own record book for obscure activities that goes back decades and attendees are free to page through it to find a record they would like to try and beat.

“A lot of group play, we have ping pong that’s down there, we do a craft on Tuesdays and Thursdays, happy bats is down there and happens around noon, so obviously, that’s baseball and softball before and after that, typically,” she said. “We have a dodgeball game at 3 p.m. still. But if there’s not enough kids down there and there’s a bunch of kids who want to have a pogo stick contest, who can stay on the pogo stick the longest, they’ll do a pogo stick.”

Kids are also able to check out sports equipment, like a disc golf set, if they just want to go across the street and use the course adjacent to City Park.

Unfortunately, The Rec is not open during rainy conditions, but, Bettcher said, anytime the sun is shining, the outdoor recreation center will be open for activities.

The Rec is located on North Shore Drive next to City Park and is open from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.