New disc golf course headlines Shamrock Day in Saint John, N.B.
Disc golf lovers in Saint John, N.B., will no longer have to travel the province to play their sport. Shamrock Park now hosts a full 18-hole course for all to enjoy.
“It’s nice having a course here,” says local disc golfer Travis Tufts. “They did a great job and it’s nice having something in your backyard. Sussex is really nice, and I would say this is on par with Sussex. It’s great.”
The opening of the course headlined “Shamrock Day,” the first of five Passport to Parks events to be hosted by the city this summer. It’s the first time the program has ran in five years.
The free event included a barbeque, face painting, balloon animals and games for all ages to enjoy. The event series will pop up at multiple city sites over the summer, aiming to advance and enrich the health, well-being, and quality of life for residents of Saint John through a sense of community.
“The goal really is to get people out and kind of reimagine or rediscover some of the parks that are around,” says event organizer Greg Cutler. “We do have a lot of great parks, a lot of waterways. And again, it’s just a way to get people out with the family, enjoying the sun. We have free activities and its just about getting out of the house and enjoying your community.”
The first of five “Passport to Parks” events this summer saw hundreds of residents make their way out to Shamrock Park, with many excited to try their luck on the new disc golf course that is two years in the making.
“It’s the love and the passion that everyone seems to have for it once they play,” says Saint John Disc Golf president Jeremy Rasch. “That’s what’s keeping them coming back and bringing their friends out to try the game.”
Disc golf is fairly similar to its traditional counterpart. Players begin on the “tee pad” and aim to get their disc in the basket in the least amount of strokes possible. The sport also gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They are popping up everywhere,” Rasch says. “Disc golfers are growing everywhere in New Brunswick and all over the Atlantic provinces.”
Rasch says the Shamrock track is the perfect place for newcomers to try the sport. He is soon hoping to have regular league nights available to the public.
“Ideally, we’d like to have a mixed league night, a women’s league night, and if it allows it and the interest is there, we are hoping to have a youth league night,” according to Rasch. “We’ll be trying to get involved with the local schools and grow the game as much as we can.”
The disc golf course wasn’t the only new sports-related addition to make its debut at Shamrock Park on Saturday.
After pandemic-related delays, Shamrock Park’s new score clock and score booth on its main artificial field are up and operational.
“This is just a gem of a city for anywhere in Atlantic Canada, Shamrock Park,” says Saint John City Councillor Barry Ogden. “We are just really really happy.”
An accessible tennis event also took place later in the day on the Shamrock Park courts, where five sport wheelchairs from Para NB were available for use. Ogden says the sports-related additions to the city park come at the right time.
“I’ve really noticed a number of people now getting involved with sports,” Ogden says. “All the numbers are up for sports, and maybe that is a good sign because sport is so good for our mental and physical health.”
There are still four “Passport to Parks” event remaining this summer. The next one will be held in July at Little River Reservoir.
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
Correction
This is a corrected article. A previous version said the wheelchairs were permanent at Shamrock Park courts.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.