Royal Palm Beach Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio gave members of the village’s Recreation Advisory Board an update on upcoming programs and projects planned for the new fiscal year at the board’s meeting on Monday, Sept. 26.

Recchio began with an update on food-related topics in village parks, starting with the end of the food distribution program through partner Feeding South Florida.

“Food distribution has been going on for the past two years, and it ended this past Wednesday because Feeding South Florida lost their funding from the government. We will not be distributing food here anymore,” he said. “We gave out more than 3.4 million meals. It was really an effort by numerous volunteers, not just individuals, but groups that came out. I want to give a shout out to everybody. It brought everyone together for a common cause.”

At Veterans Park, the Seeds Café is now open Wednesday through Sunday, serving breakfast and lunch. In the next few months, ice cream vendor Kool Runnings will also be opening at Veterans Park. At the Royal Palm Beach Commons Park Sporting Center, the Parkside Café is open seven days a week.

“We now have somebody [Parkside Café] who has made a major investment, upgrading the kitchen and the equipment they brought in. They’ve got a food truck. He’s already booked a couple of weddings that are upstairs on the third floor, catering to them,” Recchio said. “He has been in the restaurant business for quite a while. This is the same vendor that runs our haunted house in October.”

The village has also completed a number of capital projects during fiscal year 2022 in parks around the community.

At Camellia Park, six tennis courts were resurfaced along with two basketball courts. Commons Park now has a second 18-hole disc golf course and an automated kayak rental system. The design phase is now complete for Crestwood Park North, although the name may change, while Homeplace Park has a new gazebo.

At Preservation Park, the Katz Soccer Complex received reconstruction of two soccer fields and the replacement of four bleacher covers. Preservation Park also saw major changes with the removal of the RC track, installation of four pickleball courts and movement of the skate park.

“The reason for that is we had some issues. We had the skate park there where you had teenage kids, and right next to the skate park was a playground,” Recchio…