What is normally a busy time of year for minor sports in the community of Arcola has been slowed somewhat by not only COVID-19 but the need to appoint a new recreation director. The town believes, however, that they've nearly finished that process. 

Over the last few weeks, the town has conducted several interviews with a field of candidates they said they were very pleased with. At last night's council meeting, they had that list trimmed almost all the way down and think they may soon be ready to officially announce some good news. 

"We offered the position to one of our candidates, so we're going ahead with that," said administrator Glenda Johnston. "Then, we are working at opening up our rec centre, so Praire Place, the curling rink, the hockey rink, and we have also another community facility that accommodates meetings called the Optimists Hall." 

All those facilities are of huge importance to not only the sport-crazy town of Arcola but several communities around it, so their opening would be huge news for the area. And having a recreation director in place would be a big first step in getting those facilities back to something resembling normal. 

"We're following all the protocol that we need to with COVID," said Johnston. "That's the direction that we're going and so slowly but surely we're getting back to the new normal, I guess we could call it."

Arcola's school-aged kids are going back to the classroom just as students around the province are, so having a possible distraction in the form of sports will be big for them as well. And kids may not be the only ones who could use a distraction. 

"In the wintertime in small communities, those recreation places are the heart of the community," said Johnston. "So it (COVID) was a huge upset to our community for sure... We're still very cautious, going very slowly, working towards letting the children at least have some activity. It's not going to be what they're used to but I think they adjust better than some of us."

Johnston added they were pleased with the pool of candidates they got and feel they've offered the job to the right one. They're hoping to have a name to officially release on the first of October.