Parks and Recreation Department drives economy, contributes to talent retention

When Jennifer Wilson graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in the early 2000s, she decided she wanted to stay in Cape Girardeau and make her life here. Wanting to connect with others in the community who enjoy sports while staying physically fit, she signed up for a co-ed softball league through the Parks and Recreation Department.

Now, 20 years later, she is still involved with the Parks and Recreation sports leagues, as a co-ed volleyball league participant. Last year, she also volunteered as a coach for the girls’ youth basketball league.

Wilson, librarian at Cape Central Middle School, says playing in the leagues helps her feel connected to the community and gives her an avenue to invite others to become a part of it, too.

“Over the years, I’ve had a lot of different people play with me, and so, I get to meet a lot of people, and typically, it’s a lot of my coworkers … we kind of form a bond that way,” Wilson said. “[Playing in these leagues] helps me get [people who are new to the school] involved, and then, I feel like we’re all making the most of where we live and not feeling isolated.”

This is one of the goals of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department: to contribute to the quality of life for residents of Cape Girardeau and beyond by providing opportunities for community members to be physically active and connect with others.

Joined by Cara VanGennip and her 4-month-old puppy Sienna, Neil Briner watches his daughter, Cora, 3, ride her bicycle on her birthday Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019, at the LaCroix Recreation Trail in Cape Girardeau. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Although adult and youth sports leagues are one component of that, Doug Gannon, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, says they want to be inclusive and provide opportunities for everyone to get involved, regardless of interest or ability. In response to this goal, the Parks and Recreation Department offers community events such as the Father Daughter Dance and Mother Son Game Night, youth and adult arts classes, and Homeschool PE leagues, to name a few opportunities listed in the 48-page “Play Cape! Winter Spring 2024 Program Guide.”

Offering spaces for people to engage in unorganized free play is important to them, too: They maintain 27 parks across more than 600 acres of Cape Girardeau. Even something as simple as building and maintaining sidewalks adds to the way people perceive the community they live in, Gannon says.

“Cape Girardeau has really done a great job of providing quality of life opportunities for the community,” Gannon said. “I think in turn, that leads to a high level of satisfaction for people who live here and then is also a big draw for the reason why people would decide to make their home in Cape Girardeau.”

According to the story “Top 7 Benefits of Parks and Recreation” by Sukanya Kakoty, green spaces in cities provide opportunities for increased health, as well as family and community bonding; space for mentoring programs; ways for children to be physically active; increased safety in neighborhoods; and increased environmental health.

Fabian and Jada Gordon, right, dance together. (Megan Burke ~ Southeast Missourian)

Also, the University of Washington’s Urban Forestry/Urban Greening Research “Green Cities: Good Health” states parks enhance property value, with homes and commercial buildings adjacent to green spaces often valued higher, contributing positively to a city’s tax revenue.

Although Gannon says this last benefit is difficult to quantify, he says the second goal of the Parks and Recreation Department is to have a positive economic impact on the City of Cape Girardeau. The Parks and Recreation Department focuses on this by bringing in people for sports tourism opportunities at the Sportsplex and Shawnee Park Sportsplex.

When an average of 1,000 to 3,000 people come into town on any given weekend for predominately youth volleyball or basketball tournaments, Gannon says the city sees the benefit in increased hotel, restaurant and shopping revenue. The same is true during the summer months when people come — often from a five-state region — to Cape Splash.

These tournaments and Cape Splash not only generate revenue for the community, but also act as a showcase of Cape Girardeau, introducing people who might move or expand their business in the area to Cape, says Cape Chamber president and CEO Rob Gilligan. He says tournaments help “open the door” for business recruitment conversations.

“The numerous events that we host at the Cape Girardeau Sportsplex now, both volleyball tournaments and basketball tournaments that bring in thousands of visitors to the community a year, those become gateway opportunities for us to engage and connect with families and individuals that see Cape Girardeau as a destination and also a potential for growth,” Gilligan said. “So using that as an opportunity to then recruit that or maintain that area workforce and community is a great partnership opportunity.”

Gilligan says the No. 1 challenge for growing businesses is ensuring they have access to a stable labor force; the Parks and Recreation Department helps create opportunities for a labor force to become engaged with their community and want to stay in this region.

The Parks and Recreation Department itself employs 54 full-time employees and up to 600 part-time employees, often as lifeguards, facility attendants, sports officials, concession workers and scorekeepers. Gannon says many of these workers are teenagers who are working their first job; he wants it to be an opportunity for them to “learn how to have a schedule, show up to work and get along with others in the workplace.”

The need for these workers has been great with the turnout for basketball leagues this year: Gannon says there are 147 teams in the youth league, which equates to approximately 1,500 youths participating. Part of the interest comes from the Parks and Recreation Department’s partnership with the Cape Girardeau School District: Together, they have created an intramural program that encourages participation in the leagues from young ages, an effort to be inclusive and serve all citizens of Cape Girardeau. The Parks and Recreation Department and Cape Public Schools established the partnership, states Recreation Division Manager Scott Williams, to integrate the new Cape Public Schools Intramural Program into the existing Parks and Recreation Youth Sports League System.

Kyle Schade coaches his son Noah Schade’s basketball team, and he’s coached two of his other children’s baseball and soccer teams, as well. Born and raised in Cape Girardeau, Kyle Schade and his wife moved back to the area when he started his career after college. Kyle Schade participated in the Parks and Recreation leagues while growing up and wanted to provide his children with the same opportunity.

He says the league gives him and his family a chance to connect with other families in the area, and allows him to help shape the future of the community.

“It’s a great avenue to meet a lot of fun new people that you wouldn’t otherwise get to meet,” Kyle Schade said. “It’s a very rewarding experience, and you do feel like you get to impact the athletes' lives in some capacity, whether big or small.”

Noah Schade participates in the fifth and sixth grade boys basketball league, as well as in the baseball and flag football leagues. He encourages others to get involved in recreation leagues because it’s fun.

“I’ve got some good friendships, and I think it’s helped my leadership skills,” Noah Schade said.

These leagues give businesses an opportunity to connect with community members, as well: Local businesses partner with the Parks and Recreation Department to sponsor leagues and other activities.

Having opportunities to exercise and connect with others raises the health of a community, says Dr. Monica Unterreiner, DO, primary care physician at Mercy Southeast. This is an important factor when considering the quality of life in a place to call home.

“What preventative health care really focuses on is treating problems or treating illnesses really before they become more difficult to treat. And so, when you have these opportunities to increase your physical activity, it can potentially decrease your risk of ever even having these health problems develop,” Unterreiner said. “So, the first thing that I’m always recommending is at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, and having a robust Parks and Rec in the community makes that more accessible for patients.”

Dr. Steven Finstad, MD, medical bariatrics and internal medicine physician at Saint Francis Healthcare System, agrees. Originally from northern Minnesota, he says a benefit of living in Southeast Missouri is people can utilize the Parks and Recreation Department’s outdoor exercise spaces such as trails, pickleball courts and workout stands nearly year-round, to gain the physical and mental benefits of exercise.

“There is no pill or medication that comes even close to disease prevention compared to exercise,” Finstad said. “If you go from zero steps per day to 8,000 steps per day, you reduce your all-cause mortality by approximately 40%. So, having the ability to exercise outside regularly provides a massive benefit to both your emotional health, your physical health, and it adds a variety of workout options, instead of just going to a gym.”

Up next, the Parks and Recreation Department will develop Walker Park recently donated to them by William Walker III. The Cape Aquatic Center will open in the spring. And the department plans to make trail improvements to the south end of the Cape Lacroix Recreational Trail from Bloomfield Road to Shawnee Park, which will include widening and re-routing the trail in some areas, as well as the addition of signage and benches, so people can use it as a transportation alternative program to get from one part of the city to another.

Every project is aimed at helping the community grow and giving access to recreation to everyone who is a part of it.

“We want people to come here, we want people to stay,” Gannon said. “We want to provide good quality of life opportunities for people who live here, plus be a contributor to the local economy, why people decide to come to Cape Girardeau. [That increases] the property values. And all that, to me, just ties together. Everybody benefits from everything that we all do.”