The Salisbury Township Recreation Advisory Committee met at the Salisbury Township Municipal Building July 19 for its first in-person meeting since February 2020.

In attendance were Recreation Director Genny Baillie, Chair Mark Wilson, Vice Chair Patrick Jacoby and Francis J. McCullough. Secretary Kimberly Ringhoffer and Trisha Dickert were not in attendance.

In advisory reports, it was noted the tree cleanup at Lindberg Park from the May 26 storm is complete, but a fence is still being repaired. “We have to compliment the public works department on a job well done,” Wilson said. “We really got hammered in that neighborhood.”

The next topic was the tennis courts at Devonshire Park. Pictures were reviewed of the courts showing cracks and creases. A larger crack was filled in, but with macadam, not tennis court material. This is making the court unsafe because the terrain is different and players can trip on the creases. It also makes the ball bounce in different and unexpected ways.

“This has been on the top of our list for a long time,” Baillie said about replacing the courts. Quotes had been received to get the work done and a discussion was held about whether it could be done in-house, “And then the pandemic hit.” But Director of Public Works Jim Levernier has “hit the ground running” and has this on the priority list.

Baillie then discussed the movie night held June 25 at Franko Farm Park. “It was a beautiful night up at Franko, such a lovely setting and we hardly had any attendance.” Noting it was the township’s first attempt at a movie night, there will be a second one held Aug. 13 at Franko featuring the movie “Raya and the Last Dragon.”

“That’s more kid friendly, it’s a Disney, so hopefully we’ll get a good turnout,” Baillie said.

The Salisbury Township IronPigs night was occurring the next day. Baillie said the township originally purchased a block of 50 tickets and by the night of the event they had purchased around 125 tickets. Due to the success of this event, it may become an annual night. “When it comes time to plan for next year, that was a pretty straight forward one.”

Noting the same advertising was used for both the movie night and IronPigs game, Baillie said there was a much larger turnout at the movie nights when it was a part of the summer park program, which was canceled this year due to restrictions from COVID-19.

Another event coming up is a band night Sept. 5 at Franko Farm Park. The band AM Radio will be performing. Like the movie night, guests need to bring their own lawn chairs.

The Salisbury Township Police Department will host the National Night Out event to be held at Salisbury Middle School 5-8 p.m. Aug. 3.

The last event mentioned was the possibility of a Christmas tree lighting. “The problem is the geography of our township. We don’t have a downtown, we don’t have a center square,” Baillie mentioned. “We need to consider a location between now and our next meeting.”

“That would be the last thing and that would be a very packed year for the Recreation Advisory Committee’s activities,” Baillie said.