Disc golf course still attracting players
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Q: Since the disc golf course in Centennial Gardens in St. Catharines was highly touted as a wonderful recreational adventure for family and visitors a few years ago, is there any data on how much it is used?
A: The founder of the St. Catharines Disc Golf Club says the course in Centennial Gardens is used throughout the week, four seasons of the year.
And Karl Vanderkuip said it’s inspired a group in Niagara Falls which is opening a course in that city’s Fireman’s Park.
“The disc golf community is growing quite a bit in Niagara which is wonderful to see,” he said. “The more disc golf courses you have, the more users a community will have.”
While there isn’t a total number of users for the St. Catharines course — anyone of any skill level can use it for free at any time — Vanderkuip says more than 30 members of the club come out to league nights on Thursdays. He estimated there are 20 to 40 users on any given weekend.
“Nothing makes us more excited than when we see the course fill up with people who have no connection or affiliation to the club at all,” he said. “We’re always looking to promote more people to come out, as it is quite a fun and challenging course.”
He said several corporate tournaments and team building events have also taken place. At the disc golf sanctioned level, Vanderkuip said the club has been running two tournaments a year for the last three years which have drawn players from Toronto, Peterborough, London and Burlington.
Disc golf players aim to throw discs, or frisbees, into wire baskets found throughout 11.6 hectares of the park.
Die-hard players will continue to play throughout the winter, Vanderkuip said, tying ribbons to their discs so they don’t lose them in the snow and adding LED lights to see them at dusk.
The club opened the course in 2015 and had an official launch complete with signage, concrete pads, cleared brush and baskets in 2016, thanks to volunteers, grants and small business donations.
It also reached out to the city’s heritage committee which provided writes ups about the area’s history that can be found throughout the course.
“For those who don’t care to throw discs they can still walk all 18 holes and have some history,” Vanderkuip said. “It’s sort of a historical trail that kind of leads to the story of Centennial Gardens.”
Centennial Gardens is having a comeback of sorts. The City of St. Catharines unveiled $920,000 in enhancements at the park last June through city, federal and regional funds. Vanderkuip the St. Catharines club is planning more improvements to its course for the 2019 season.
Q: What is going to happen to traffic flow once the new stores are in place at the Pen Centre in St. Catharines?
A: There will be very little change to the way traffic flows around the shopping centre once construction on the new Walmart and former Sears redevelopment is completed.
Centre manager John Bragagnolo said the Walmart space is expanding the mall out, but a road will be constructed in front just like there was before when Target and Zellers were there.
The other difference will be that the parking lot in front of the Walmart will be raised to bring it to the grade of the store.
But drivers will be able to circle around the whole mall like they did before the construction projects.
A new 110,000 square-foot Walmart is currently under construction at the Glendale Avenue shopping mall that’s expected to open in June.
The former Sears space is being redeveloped into several smaller retail stores which are expected to open in late 2019 to early 2020.
Q: Why can’t gift wrap paper be recycled by Niagara Region but newspapers and magazines can?
A: What looks like paper may not really be paper.
Catherine Habermebl, Niagara Region’s director of waste management services division, said newspapers and magazines are made from recycled newsprint or ground wood, so mills can recycle it back into newspapers or magazines. But wrapping paper is high gloss, in most cases with an aluminium foil base, sometimes with plastic and very ink heavy. Mills don’t want it.
The exception is gift wrap that is similar to a brown paper bag material.
“Anything that’s shiny or crinkly, we do not take it,” she said.
Habermebl said the region is looking at undertaking a campaign in the new year trying to educate people on what can go into the box and what can’t.
“It is more difficult than it was 10 years ago because there’s all these new products that are out on the market,” she said. “There are plastic-based products that aren’t recyclable so it does make it challenging for residents to understand what does go in and what doesn’t.”