Supie summer park program is back amid staff shortage

Hamilton's Supie summer fun is back in neighbourhood parks as the school summer break begins.

The free drop-in recreational program is active in 14 neighbourhood parks from July 4 to Aug. 26 - an alternative to summer camps for kids.

First launched in 1909, the summer parks program provides free activities like games, arts and crafts for children and their families.

This year, the city has two kinds of Supie programs - staffed parks offering programs Monday to Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and pop-up Supie (or mobile programs) that will be travelling across designated parks for morning and afternoon sessions.

Laura Kerr, the city's manager of recreation and program development, told The Spectator, that the two programs combined will serve about 24 parks a week across Hamilton."

The new addition of pop-up Supie will have a van visiting two parks a day for the 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. morning sessions, and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. afternoon sessions.

Kerr noted the idea is borrowed from a previously active Supie van program, brought back in order to get creative with the resources that are available."

To have a fun day at the program, kids can bring:

• healthy snacks;

• refillable water bottle;

• hat;

• sunscreen;

• and running shoes or athletic sandals (no flip flops).

The City of Hamilton has installed a lesser number of locations for Supie programs this year.

In 2021, about 15 such locations were established as a comeback from the pandemic. Pre-COVID, there used to be 88 park locations across the city.

Kerr cites the summer staffing shortage as a reason for fewer Supie sites.

Our summer recruitment saw less uptake than previous years, less interest than last year," she said.

This summer, Kerr said, the city was looking to hire at least 60 summer students, but we only got 35."

The target was 40 Supie locations, but then, was reduced to 14 due to staff shortage.

The mobile Supie program was a thoughtful alternative to reach other community parks, Kerr said, especially parks in rural areas where it's harder to get staff unless they live in the community."

The city is not planning on going back to 88 locations again. Kerr said this is to double-up on staff at each location for maintaining their safety, and to allow consistency in the program in case of staff illness.

Earlier, each location used to have one staff. Now, there will be two at each location and a minimum of two staff for the mobile Supie.

The city is still hiring staff for the Supie program, and anyone interested can apply at hamilton.ca/recreation/recreation-job-opportunities.

Ritika Dubey is a reporter at The Spectator. rdubey@thespec.com