The Mahaska Community Recreation Foundation is focusing on events at the Lacey Recreation Complex and planning ahead for work on the recreation trail.

MCRF Director Sherry Vavra said the main focus this season is on the Lacey Complex. At Lacey this season, Little League plays and practices at the baseball diamonds and William Penn’s soccer team practices and plays games at the soccer fields. Special events for the summer include Little League tournaments, a high school softball tournament with 18 teams, a soccer camp for kids put on by William Penn and a challenger handicap baseball game. William Penn’s football team had held spring football practice at the Lacey Complex.

To make sure things run smoothly, Desiree Rouse was hired as the Lacey Recreation Coordinator in April. The Lacey Advisory Board, with 15 members and eight committees, has also recently been put together. The board will advise the MCRF board on Lacey Complex issues. Vavra said one of the focuses for the board will be on who the Lacey Complex is trying to reach and what is being done to make it more accessible for families.

Concrete had been poured in the middle of the baseball parking lot for the future solar walkway. The walkway will be 2,000 feet long and will have models of the sun and planets, with information on each, Vavra said. The solar walkway is still in the planning stages.

There is also planned work on the recreation trail later this year. Work on the north and south underpasses on Highway 63 and work to extend the trail from the south to University Park is possible, Vavra said.

MCRF is assisting Beacon in applying for grants for a new playground. Vavra said she is working with the project’s chairman, Jennifer Thomas-Maxwell, on the project.

“Jennifer has worked extremely hard on that,” Vavra said.

Vavra said the Mahaska County Community Foundation is one possible source of grant funding for the project.

MCRF is a non-profit organization that donates to development and recreational projects and assists with projects in and around Oskaloosa.

For the first quarter of 2008, between Jan. 1 and March 31, the income from the hotel motel tax was $23,900 and there were $89,500 in donations. Additional sources of income for MCRF included: $5,338 in grant funds from the Department of Transportation and $22,634 in grant funds from CAT. Expenses include: $26,653 on development for the solar walkway, $19,429 on the recreation trail, $26,459 at the Lacey concessions, and $1,241 on the office and tourism.

The ending balance was $2,817 and the ending balance in the savings account was $40,450.

Herald Staff Writer Wes Kappelman can be reached by email at oskynews@oskyherald.com