The results of the Hastings Parks and Recreation recreation equipment library survey are in with the city expected to be purchasing equipment that the public can rent as soon as next year. Top results of the survey were snowshoes and kayaks.
The recreation equipment library opened in May of this year and asked residents what types of recreation equipment they would like to have access to and use. The survey closed June 30 with the results to be taken back to the county to move forward with providing the equipment.
The recreation equipment library comes from an $8,000 Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) grant from the Minnesota Department of Health via Dakota County. SHIP is a program meant to address chronic conditions like cancers, heart disease, strokes, and type 2 diabetes by working directly with communities to “make the healthy choice the easy choice,” according the Dakota County website.
When it comes to providing access to the future equipment, details of where it will be stored and how to access the equipment are still up in the air. The goal of providing access to this equipment has always been “minimizing barriers for use of this equipment,” said Hastings Parks and Recreation Programming Specialist Paige Marschall Bigler.
The goal is to allow anyone to use the equipment without the need of anything else. For example, if a kayak was kept at a centralized location in Hastings, users would have to have a vehicle that could transport the kayak to a body of water to use it. That transportation is a barrier for use for many. Therefore, options of keeping lock boxes at trailheads for snowshoes or stands for kayaks at bodies of water would allow anyone to use the equipment without creating barriers for use.
The equipment is expected to be purchased in the coming months and available for use in 2025.