InTucker Magazine

Ask Rip -July 2021

Rip Robertson is the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Tucker. He brings to the job years of experience in Parks and Rec, as well as Public Works. Rip is a former Military Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Army and is active with the Army Reserve.

Welcome to National Parks and Recreation Month! This is Tucker Parks and Recreation’s third year and we are highlighting some of our wonderful accomplishments and some exciting things to come. 

With the health crisis last year, we worked hard for our community to continue serving and giving everyone a way to engage and stay safe.  We were able to keep our parks open, play continued after a short pause and our pools were open for the summer. The crisis helped us realize that we could reach the community in many different ways and we will be utilizing some of those even as we reopen.

We took the opportunity at the Recreation Center to add some safety features with a new UV filtration system and an active ionization process. This will help us throughout the year to keep the air cleaner and help keep our participants safe.  We also were able to add a solar panel system to help save money on our electricity. This will also provide emergency electricity for city operations.

Since establishing our Department, we have been able to bring the community six new playgrounds, which also included the complete renovation of Peters Park, just completed this past winter. We have also upgraded and added numerous trails with bridges/boardwalks, docks and overlooks as well as acquired new sports fields, a second municipal pool, four tennis courts and we completely renovated our gymnasium. We have added new athletic programs for our city including pickleball, golf, basketball, baseball and a tennis program.  

A number of programs at the Tucker Recreation Center have either been expanded or added. We host dance, karate, pottery/ceramic and senior programs to include exercise and games for many ages. We have also added to our event schedule with exciting adventures and fun and games in our Parks and Rec Center. Our next event will be our annual Independence Day Cookout at Cofer Pool with a full day of fun. See our website for full details. In the fall, we have some exciting activities and hope to see everyone out and having fun.

Our pools are once again open and offering fun in the sun. Come out and join us for a dip or a run through our splash pad. There are two locations, one at Cofer Park (4259 N Park Dr.) and the newest addition at Rosenfeld Park (2088 Glacier Dr.). We have added a couple of new features with a water slide at Rosenfeld and an aqua swing at Cofer.  

We are looking forward to a busy year with new fields, new lighting, new park signs coming, several new bridges and some exciting additions to our events. As always, stay connected through our website and Facebook page for the latest and greatest news and adventures.