Opening Day has turned into Picture Day in Habersham County. The parks and recreation department has canceled its opening day festivities for this Saturday at Diamond Memorial Fields in Clarkesville.
There will be no parade of athletes, speakers, or ceremonial first pitch. The Rec Department will still take players’ pictures, though, inside the Gray Gym at the county rec building at 120 Paul Franklin Road in Clarkesville.
“With the forecasted weather Friday and low temperatures on Saturday, we feel it is the best decision,” says Habersham County Parks & Recreation Department Director Brooke Whitmire. “We’ve also confirmed with neighboring counties (White and Dawson so far) that they, too, have canceled activities for the same reasons.”
Baseball and softball seasons were to start on March 18. County officials say games will be rescheduled, and the rec department will plan an end-of-season celebration instead.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Diamond Memorial Fields complex. Nearly 600 Habersham County children have registered for spring sports. For years, softball and baseball were managed by outside groups. Adding them back into the recreation department has resulted in 500% program growth and doubled the athletic program revenue for the department, Whitmire says.
A total of 184 of the 598 spring sports participants are children under 6 years old.
