Mayor’s Message: Michael Mignogna
The arrival of spring offers a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and the Voorhees park system.
Connolly Park, along Centennial Boulevard, is a 49-acre oasis. Acquired by the township in 2001, it contains two dog runs, one for large and one for smaller dogs, a half-mile walking and jogging track with lights, a large grass field for multi-sport usage, a cricket pitch, an open-air picnic pavilion and a comfort station with restrooms.
A new community playground was installed in 2010 and new picnic tables have been added to the park. Connolly Park is also the home of our summer concert series and our Halloween in the Park.
Lions Lake Park is located on Dutchtown Road off of Route 73. Our community banquet facility can accommodate up to 100 people. Lions Lake contains a children’s playground, a picnic grove and fishing lake. It is also home to the Voorhees Girls Softball Association with four fields, three of which are fully lit.
In 2011, the National Softball Association named Lions Lake as one of three “Outstanding Parks” in the northeast and the only facility in New Jersey to receive the award.
Kirkwood Park, located along Laurel Oak Road behind the Hampton Inn, has a lighted softball field, paved walking path, basketball courts, a children’s playground, a multi-purpose field, and two bocce courts. The park lighting was recently upgraded through a state grant. The township also purchased the nearby 14-acre Kirkwood Forest, enhancing and preserving the beauty of this natural setting.
The Maiaroto Sports Complex located on Echelon Road is home to the Voorhees Soccer Association and host to the annual Memorial Day Soccer Tournament, one of the largest in the country.
Maiaroto includes all natural turf fields with recently improved lights. It also offers tennis courts, basketball courts and a fully operational snack bar with public restrooms.
Home to the Gibbsboro-Voorhees Athletic Association (GVAA) is the Rabinowitz Baseball Complex located along Kresson Road, with seven fenced basement fields.
“Sprinturf Diamonds” have been installed on the Babe Ruth and Majors fields. Three of the fields are fully lit. The complex also includes a small playground as well as a snack bar and public restrooms, all of which recently had upgrades.
The GVAA Vikings youth football and cheerleading as well as Voorhees Lacrosse Inc., use Giangiulio Recreation Complex along Victor Boulevard. There is a lighted athletic field with synthetic turf. The field can be used year round by our youth football, cheerleading, lacrosse and soccer organizations.
In addition, there is a baseball diamond with lights, a grass lacrosse field and a tot lot.
Giangiulio also includes a snack bar, a children’s play area and public restrooms.
Stafford Farm is our largest piece of preserved land. The 140-acre parcel includes a 1-mile walking path that follows an old stagecoach trail through undisturbed woods. The township also purchased the 5.5-acre piece of the land adjacent to Stafford Farm to be preserved as open space.
John Hale Sr. Memorial Park is at the site of the former Voorhees Township Department of Public Works sewer plant on West End Avenue in the Ashland section. In partnership with the Ashland Residential Coalition (ARC) and with a grant from the Camden County Open Space Advisory Board, a playground was installed by the township and an oasis was born.
The former Buzby Landfill on Centennial Boulevard is now the 36-acre Voorhees Environmental Park. The township has partnered with Rutgers University Department of Landscape Architecture and the Voorhees Environmental and Cultural Education Foundation to develop a conceptual plan for the future use of the park.
The proposed plans can be viewed on the township web page, www.voorheesnj.com.
Rutgers is seeking resident input on students’ designs and there is a survey link on the web page where residents can give their opinions on amenities at the park.
The township maintains neighborhood playgrounds on Round Hill Road in the Green Ridge neighborhood, Elliot Playground on Elliot Drive in the Beagle Club, Sandpiper Playground in the Avian Section, the Lake Villa Park Playground, the Cornell Drive Playground as well as the Sheppard Road basketball courts off of Centennial Boulevard.
The township committee will continue to work to improve our park system. All of our parks are maintained without the use of pesticides.
Enjoy the outdoors!
• The 18th Annual Charity Bowling Tournament will be held on Saturday, April 21, at Strikes, 501 White Horse Pike, Stratford. There are four separate sessions between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. The $20 cost includes live entertainment, food and refreshments, as well as bowling. A cash bar will be available. Proceeds will benefit the Alicia Rose “Victorious” Foundation, The Little Rock Foundation, The Canuso Foundation, The Ellie Koerner Leukemia Fund and The Mary Anne Mazanec Ovarian Cancer Foundation.
For more information, visit www.victoriousfoundation.org.
• The Fourth-Annual Community “Walk 4 Family & Friends with Cancer” will be held on Sunday, April 22, at 8 a.m. at Connolly Park on Centennial Boulevard. Proceeds will benefit the Financial Assistance for Cancer Patients Program and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The entry fee is $30 the date of the event.
For more information, visit www.walk 4family-friendswithcancer.org.
• On Saturday, April 28, the Voorhees Animal Orphanage will hold its Sixth-Annual Wag’n Walk fundraiser at Connolly Park. The event is for dog owners and their pets and is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event features vendors, refreshments and pets for adoption. Since 1988, VAO has been dedicated to providing shelter, food and medical care to stray and unwanted animals until permanent homes can be found. To register online visit www.firstgiving.com/awagnwalk. For more information about the VAO, visit www.animalorphanage.org.
• On Sunday, April 29, Virtua Hospital in Voorhees will host the March of Dimes March of Babies at its campus located on Route 73. The four-mile walk raises funds to support babies born prematurely or with birth defects. Registration is at 9 a.m. and the march begins at 10 a.m. For more information, contact Susan Sczechowicz at ssczechowicz@marchofdimes.com or call (856) 375–8214.
