outdoor recreation

The Day – The pandemic increased activity at parks and trails. Now towns are using ARPA funds for outdoor recreation.

admin basketball, Children, coronavirus, East Lyme CT, Epidemics, Epidemics and Pandemics, Government grants, Groton CT, Local governments, Municipal governments, New London County, New London CT, Norwich CT, outdoor recreation, parks, Parks and Rec, recreation and leisure, recreational golf, Skateboarding, tennis 0 Comments July 2, 2022

, 2022-07-02 18:00:12,
…

,
To read the original article, go to Click here

Disc News

ANGEL FIRE RESORT WILL OPEN THE SUMMER SEASON ON MAY 20 WITH A FULL OFFERING OF ACTIVITIES AND … | News

admin accommodations, environment and nature, family travel, Hiking, Hobbies, hotels and resorts, leisure travel, lifestyle, mountains, outdoor recreation, recreation and leisure, recreational cycling, recreational fishing, recreational golf, recreational skiing, recreational snowboarding, recreational sports, travel 0 Comments May 2, 2022

Angel Fire, New Mexico, May 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Angel Fire Resort, ( https://www.angelfireresort.com ) located in the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, has announced the summer season lineup of activities that will start May 20. Angel Fire Resort has carved out a family-friendly packed summer schedule for those looking for outdoor adventure in a scenic mountain town. New this year is the Angel Fire Resort Outside Adventure Pass. The Pass includes complimentary outdoor activities for every guest for each day they stay at the Lodge or vacation home reserved through the resort.

“We’re expanding our offer this summer with the Angel Fire Resort Outside Adventure Pass. When you make your reservation with the resort, each guest will receive a free activity for each night they stay,” explains Greg Ralph, marketing director, Angel Fire Resort. “These activities include chairlift passes, lake activities, golf and tennis, and even high adventure activities at the top of the mountain. We want our summer guests to have an opportunity to take advantage of everything there is do here. We really are a year-round resort with so much for people to see and do.”

Here are just a few Angel Fire Resort’s top activities available this summer.

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN ZIPLINING

Opening May 20 (weather permitting) is one of the state’s highest-altitude, adrenaline-inducing outdoor adventures. Angel Fire Resort’s Zipline Adventure Tour takes small groups of thrill-seekers through multiple stages at the second-highest elevation zipline tour in the United States.

BIKING – 131 DAYS OF RIDING

Awarded #1 Bike Park in the Southwest by MTBParks.com, Angel Fire Bike Park (www.angelfirebikepark.com), the largest Bike Park in the Rockies, opens more than 60 miles of trails on May 20. The bike park will offer the longest season in its history, with 131 days of riding. Angel Fire maintains over 100 miles of downhill and cross-country green belt trails for all ability levels, which ties into the National Forest trail network, including the highly praised South Boundary Trail.

Travel Tip: For those new to the sport, check out the newly redesigned Easy Street and new Chipmunk Trails. These swoopy green trails offer over XX miles to provide those new to mountain biking a better beginner experience.

HIGH ALTITUDE GOLF

At 8,600′ elevation, Angel Fire Resort’s high-altitude, 18-hole golf course is regarded as one of the most stunning in the west. The course is tucked beneath the imposing Sangre de Cristo Mountains and offers sweeping views of Wheeler Peak and plenty of wildlife. The driving range and golf course open on May 20 to the public.

Travel Tip: book your child a clinic or lesson with one of the country’s Top Master Kid Coaches, Evan Sales, who has worked at the Angel Fire golf course for the last decade.

LIVE OUTDOOR CONCERTS

Bring a lawn chair, some friends, and your dancing shoes! Cool Summer Nights Concert Series will offer free live music every Friday night in Frontier Park so you can kick off the weekend right. Concerts run from June 17 through September 2. Check the Angel Fire Resort website for a full schedule lineup.

SCENIC CHAIRLIFT RIDES

For those wanting to take in a deep breath of mountain air, the scenic chairlift allows guests beautiful Moreno Valley views as the Chile Express climbs to the mountain summit at 10,677 feet. At the top, guests can enjoy disc golf, hiking, or a picnic. Guests can ride the chairlift back down or opt to hike down the front of the ski mountain.

ART AND FARMER’S MARKET

This popular Sunday morning mix of art, wares, and food expands this summer. Starting Sunday, June 12, take a stroll through Frontier Park for this high-altitude farmer’s market that will offer the best in fresh, locally-grown produce and products such as honey, soaps, and baked goods. Sunday mornings will be ideal for sipping on a hot vanilla latte, listening to live music, and checking out paintings, pottery, and jewelry from local New Mexican artisans at the expanded art and farmer’s market.

LUXURY CAMPING

According to AAA, 2022 is all about the family road trip. This summer, one place to check out is Angel Fire’s Luxury RV Resort. The 35-acre, modern RV Resort located at the base of the Carson National Forest is ranked a Top 25 RV Resort in the Southwest. With 102 RV sites to choose from, travelers can park their rig and then select from many activities throughout the area, including hiking, horseback riding, fly-fishing, golf, mountain biking, and ATVing. Travel Tip: the RV Resort is already taking reservations for this summer, so book sooner than later.

For more information: https://angelfirervresort.com

STAND UP PADDLEBOARDING

Angel Fire Resort’s Monte Verde Lake has recently been restocked with Rainbow Trout to prepare for fishing this summer. Boats, stand-up paddleboards, and pedal boats are all available for rent. Fishing equipment, bait, and daily fishing licenses are also available.

To take advantage of the new Angel Fire Resort Outside Adventure Pass, make your reservation for the Lodge or a private vacation home or condo through the resort’s reservation line (NUMBER HERE). All guests will receive a complimentary activity voucher for each guest for each night of stay. Activities include:

Free Scenic Chairlift TicketFree 1 hour boat/paddleboard rental at Monte Verde LakeFree Children’s fishing permitFree Disc GolfFree Bucket of Balls at the Driving Range (valid May 20- June 24 only)Free Tennis at the Angel Fire Resort Tennis Center

PHOTOS FOR PRESS USE: Media are welcome to post, broadcast or print any photos in the link below. Please courtesy “Angel Fire Resort.”

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1M8ZIgwlpvhYI9PzTdsiLKvHmqpIQLW5F?usp=sharing

For information on these events and other summer activities, please contact Angel Fire Resort at 855-923-7387 or visit www.angelfireresort.com.

###

About Angel Fire Resort

Angel Fire Resort is a top year-round mountain resort destination in New Mexico. Angel Fire Resort was named “America’s Most Affordable Ski Town” by Realtor.com and ranked a Top 25 “Best Family Ski Resort in North America” by Dream Vacation Magazine. Situated at over 8,600′ elevation in the Southern Rocky Mountains, Angel Fire strives to offer the best value and choice for family outdoor recreation activities to its members, guests and visitors–including skiing, snowboarding, tubing, sledding, golf, mountain biking, zipline, tennis, fishing, hiking and more. For additional information on Angel Fire Resort, resort membership, or opportunities for real estate investment in Angel Fire, please call (855) 923-7387 or visit the resort’s website at www.angelfireresort.com.

Attachments

Mountain Top ZiplingHigh Altitude Golf at Angel Fire Resort Opens May 20, 2022

Krysty Ronchetti Angel Fire Resort 505-821-9279 [email protected]

Equipment

As pandemic drives outdoor recreation, Glide Disc Golf sees scores of newcomers to sport | Business News

admin business, coronavirus, covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, Disc Golf, disc golfing, far east side, glide, madison, madison forward, mike batka, outdoor recreation, revenue, sales 0 Comments April 3, 2022

Logan Wroge | Wisconsin State Journal

In some ways, Glide Disc Golf was a microcosm of the Madison retail experience in 2020.

Deemed nonessential, it was shuttered for two months. The Far East Side shop was broken into one of the late May nights State Street was looted. Products became limited as COVID-19 disrupted international supply chains. Owner Mike Batka strained to get a clear answer on allowable capacity when his 950-square-foot store reopened.

In other ways, the niche sporting goods shop is an outlier.

Propelled by a growth in outdoor recreation as people sought safe and socially distanced activities, 2020 proved to be the best sales year for the company, now in its 13th year, Batka said.

Further defying the odds of a public health crisis that’s massively benefitted online retailers, the vast majority of Glide’s revenue is in sales at its brick-and-mortar store.

“I’m not going to attribute it to some high level of business acumen. There is something to be said about being in the right place at the right time,” the 46-year-old Batka said. “In a relatively frustrating, depressing, unknown environment, just day-to-day life, Glide served to be a bright spot and an escape and outlet for a lot of people.”

It wasn’t just disc golf people flocked to last year.

A report earlier this year from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found across-the-board increases in outdoor recreation and hunting from Department of Natural Resources data. Other items like kayaks, canoes and cross-country skis flew off the shelves at other retailers.

Opened in the spring of 2008 — in time for the Great Recession — Glide experienced steady growth the first few years, Batka said, and a jump in revenue in 2012 after moving to a larger space within the strip mall where the business is located.

Heavy rain in 2018 had an “adverse affect on us” as water-logged courses and swarms of mosquitoes kept people from playing, Batka said. But revenue bounced back the following year.

When Gov. Tony Evers issued his “safer at home” order last spring, closing nonessential businesses, Batka prepared for another financial hit.

Glide was “really busy right out of the gate” when the shop at 4222 Milwaukee St., next to a disc golf course in Hiestand Park, reopened in mid-May. The growth was driven by new players interested in picking up a pandemic hobby.

The leisurely and relatively inexpensive activity appealed to retirees, cooped-up school children and musically deprived concertgoers looking for a new outlet.

The store required face masks even before Evers issued a state mandate, said Batka, whose wife is a nurse, and free disposable masks are given to customers without one.

This year continues to look promising. First-quarter sales are up compared to the same time period last year, which was largely pre-pandemic, Batka said.

The surprising growth of 2020 was a team effort, he said. It allowed Batka to provide his two employees with 18% raises, give year-end bonuses and stay committed to an initiative where businesses donate at least 1% of sales to environmental nonprofits, which represents approximately 4% of the store’s profits.

“I would certainly have preferred to have a normal year with my kids in school and have had a year that was more similar to 2019,” he said. “But I guess if there was a silver lining to 2020, it did lead to a relatively good year for us.”

Supply troubles — Like other businesses, Glide continues to have troubles placing product orders as the pandemic interrupts international supply chains.

STEVE APPS, STATE JOURNAL

Specialty shop

Nestled in an obscure strip mall off Milwaukee Street just east of Stoughton Road, Glide is the only sporting goods store in Madison dedicated solely to disc golf.

The shop stocks about 10,000 discs at any one time, generally ranging from $10 to $20. Backpacks starting at $29 and going as high as $299 for limited edition ones line one wall of the store, while the other side has custom apparel, baskets players use as the target in the sport and other accessories.

The store does compete with big-box retailers in Madison that offer disc golf products, such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods, he said.

Having first played disc golf in 2000, Batka speaks passionately about the sport and its history, the types of discs, and the national and international manufacturers he’s been spending more time calling and emailing to keep the store stocked in the face of product shortages. Batka and the two part-time employees — both avid disc golfers — offer advice and guidance to new players.

“You can’t necessarily get that guidance buying from a website,” Batka said.

The store also appeals to die-hards who drive in from places like Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois, to browse, Batka said.

For veterans to the sport, being able to feel and see the discs before making a purchase is important, he said. They also often have specific preferences on the texture, weight and color of discs.

Locally, sales of disc golf permits through the city’s Parks Division to play the three seasonal courses presented a mixed picture.

Good location — The niche sporting goods retailer is the only shop in Madison devoted solely to disc golf, and it’s located right across from a disc golf course in Hiestand Park.

STEVE APPS, STATE JOURNAL

The city sold 1,908 annual disc golf permits in 2020, a significant bump compared to about 1,450 in each 2018 and 2019. At the same time, the cheaper daily permits took a year-over-year dive from 5,284 in 2019 to 3,279 in 2020.

A backstory

Soon after graduating UW-Madison in 1997 with a degree in economics, Batka embarked on a decade-long nomadic professional journey.

He interned with a minor league baseball team in Michigan, worked investments for a financial services company in Milwaukee, sold professional shredding services and got a job at UPS — initially for the health insurance that turned into a yearslong stint of moving up the ladder.

For someone who had always wanted to work in sports, Batka — the Bucky Badger mascot his senior year of college — said nothing seemed to fit.

The idea of opening his own shop was planted at a disc golf tournament in Madison. It was there Batka said he spoke with Mike Newhouse, who previously owned a disc golf store in the same strip mall Glide would open up in.

One more short-lived stint at an Illinois-based sales company finally had Batka realize: “I don’t want to live like this.” By late 2007 he signed a lease, and Glide opened the following spring.

“I saw the sport growing, I wanted something that I was passionate about, and I never felt like I found my niche” before opening the store, Batka said.