Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 2 Jul 2018

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From YouTube: Summer at the Park

Description

Director of Recreation and Parks Barry F. Williams offers suggestions for summer fun for everyone.

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Welcome to hello! baltimore county., I'm your host, ellen kobler.

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summer's here and the best place to be is at one of baltimore county's beautiful parks.

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here to share some great ideas for family fun is director of the baltimore county department of recreation and parks, barry williams..

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Thank you so much for joining us., thanks for having me, ellen. sure.. So it is summertime and people like to be outdoors.

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What are some great things that people and families can do in baltimore, county?.

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Well, we have a lot of real estate in baltimore county.

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In fact, over 212 parks., not to mention all the different playing fields we have, but I encourage folks to get out and see the beauty of our parks.

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It's lush., it's green., it's nice and cool, and, depending on what you would like to do,.

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You can just about find it anywhere in any one of our parks.

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For example,, if you like doing something with the water,.

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Well,, then, you can go and go canoeing at lake roland.

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Or at marshy point or at oregon ridge.

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Or at miami beach., those are all nice places where you can just launch a boat or a little raft, and as long as you have your life, jackets on,.

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You're good to go.

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All right and lake roland is a fairly new addition to baltimore county's parks.

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It's kind of unique too, right?.

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It is. it's a wonderful jewel that we, in partnership with baltimore city,.

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The county took over about seven years ago,. I think now.

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And we put a lot of improvements to it.

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It is now a people park as opposed to what it had been.

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Just a place where people would walk their dogs and I'm really proud of the work, that's gone. There.

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The nature council has done some terrific things, there.

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Great volunteers., but it's a great place to come and just enjoy, and it's all free.

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Speaking of dogs, baltimore county now has several dog parks.

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We do., we have five of them and you can join any one of the parks for a minimum fee.

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I think at lake roland, it's about $35 a year.

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And you can go any time you would like.

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St. helena's is free., that's down in dundalk.. All the rest, I think, are between $25 and $35, a year.

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But in addition to that,, you can take your dog to any of our parks.

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As long as you have them on leash.

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And clean up after them. always clean up after them., no matter what. yeah., because people think it's fertilizer or it's natural..

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It's not., it's very,, very bad.,.

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But we have a lot of those little bags around, so you can clean up after your dog,, your pooch.

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(, ellen laughs, ).

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And I understand that baltimore county has an agriculture center and farm park up in hunt. Valley. tell us about that.

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Well, it is. it's at 1114, shawan road.

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And it's on 146 acres and it's an active farm.

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It allows new farmers to learn their craft.

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We have horses there, because we have the saratoga wounded warrior program.

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That allows vets who have ptsd help with that aspect of it.

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By just walking there and walking around and it's just beautiful.

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You see the lush green that we have there and you learn a lot about running a farm.

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Demonstration gardens for people... demonstration, gardens.

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The cooperative extension service. absolutely., we have goats.

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We have some sheep there and some chickens., so it's kind of fun. wow., it's a great experience.

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Now,, if you have a family member who is physically challenged,,.

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What is available for people to go out and enjoy the parks?.

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So for our bigger parks, like the ag. center,.

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And like lake roland,, there are some paths that are paved.

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And so they can go to, but in particular,, if you have a person who is challenged, physically,.

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Angel park is one of the places that I recommend to everybody to go. To.

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Ellen: angel park. angel park is in perry hall and it is a park. That's on 1.6 acres.

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And it's like a wonderland for children as well as adults,.

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And one of the advantages of angel park, if your child is physically challenged,.

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They can play alongside their able-bodied friends.

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But the other piece is,, if you,, the parent, is physically challenged,.

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You can get up close and personal with your child at that park.

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It has a wonderful amphitheater and it's all ada accessible.

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For people who are interested in taking nature photographs,.

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Going out and doing some photography,, where would you suggest?.

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Well, again,, just about all of our parks, are so lush and so beautiful.

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But in particular,, if you go by the waterfront.

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And you go down to marshy point, you'll, see many of the egrets.

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And different kinds of nature life there.

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You see a lot of owls., you see a lot of wildlife there., but also at lake roland, which is really at the city-county line.

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We have bald eagles there., so I'm really proud.

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really?, it's great. beautiful.

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and if you've never seen a bald eagle up, live and close,.

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I mean, it's terrific to watch.

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Ellen: yeah. they re incredible.. Are there costs to visit the county parks?.

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They are absolutely free and that's the wonderful thing.

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We are encouraging people to get out and commune with nature.

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It costs you nothing. nothing at all., now, for rocky point,. If you're going to the beach there,.

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If you are under 12,, it's free.

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for adults, it's $7 and for seniors, it's $4.

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So it's minimum costs.

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and again,. I encourage people to go out there and it's a great beach.

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Ellen: yeah. go to the beach right in baltimore county.

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Right around the corner. absolutely. yeah. talk a little bit about the recreation councils and the nature centers.

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And some of the activities that they coordinate with the county.

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We have a great partnership with the rec. councils..

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We have 46 of them, which includes the sailing centers.

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And the nature centers as well, the regular rec. councils.

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They run the programming that we see at our parks and in our fields.

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For example, any of the football kinds of program,.

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All the other kind of sports are run by the rec. councils.

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At the nature, councils,, they assist through their own volunteer work.

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And helping to do our programming., so this summer,, we have a lot of little camps that are run by.

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Our staff and the volunteers, and so young children, learn about nature,.

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Learn about how things are grown, in particular, at our ag. center.

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But in other parts of our parks, as well.

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And where do people go to find out information about the parks and the activities?.

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They can go on our website., it's the regular baltimore county, slash, recreation and parks,. I think.

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Ellen: okay. well,, they can kind of google it from the county. Website.

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And talk a little bit about some of your regional parks.

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oregon ridge park for example, is rather special.

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It is. it s, 1,100 acres,,.

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Vast parts of the park will allow you to just kind of roam.

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And take different paths and things.. We also do a lot of concerts there, because we have a show.

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The baltimore symphony orchestra performs there every year.

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And they do the william tell overture.

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yeah. 4th of july. yeah. 4th of july.. That's always fun., but we also host other kinds of concert.

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hot august balloon... balloon. hot august blues...

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...Is, something that is there as well as a couple of other kind of festivals.

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What would you say that you see.

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In terms of the future for the parks in baltimore, county?.

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Recreation activities?: are you seeing some shifts as we...

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I am. thanks for the question.

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What I'm seeing, the trend not only in maryland, but also nationwide,.

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Is more toward pocket? Parks.

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people like the parks that are in their own community..

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They like the idea of walking out of their homes and walking down the street and going to a park, and just not necessarily one that is conditioned.

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For any kind of specific sport or activity.

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But one that they could just walk and kind of a zen-like.

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And just commune with nature, have some benches there.

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Maybe have some things where they could have a picnic.

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all right. well,. Thank you so much for sharing all of these great ideas.

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Thank you, ellen. come on out to our parks.

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We will and thank you for watching hello! baltimore county..

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You can find out more about what's happening at the county parks on the baltimore county website and by connecting with baltimore county government on all of our social media. Platforms.

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