T-ball

Unlike last year, baseball appears to be on the near horizon for local kids forced to sit out on a canceled 2020 park & recreation season, thanks (of course) to last year’s safety shutdowns from COVID-19.

Organizers at municipalities across Cullman County are accepting and encouraging park & rec sign-ups for baseball, T-ball and softball as this year’s spring season approaches — even if some of the public health lessons learned over the previous year have changed things up a little.

At Fairview this week, town council members discussed how they’ll be taking a socially-distanced approach to their local registration process. Starting on Feb. 8 when registration officially begins, the town will set out a dropbox just outside the town hall entrance, where families can stop by at any hour — even after dark — to pick up forms, drop off their fees in a secured lock box, and leave their finished paperwork at their convenience.

That’s a change from the typical process of having park & rec participants come inside the town hall to pick up and process their ball-season sign-ups. But it’s a small accommodation that helps minimize the risk ahead of this year’s on-the-field competition — which pretty much everyone agrees shouldn’t become another kids’ activity casualty of COVID-19.

Over the past few weeks, town councils from Fairview to Good Hope to Holly Pond have discussed ways to ensure this year’s park & rec season will go on, with every municipality appearing to be on the same page when it comes to getting kids back out on the diamond. In each town, the sign-up process varies, so be sure to check with your local city or town to be sure your child can get in on the action.

At Fairview, watch for ball-season forms to appear at the new town hall dropbox on Monday, Feb. 8. Instructions on how the process works also will be posted on the town hall’s front door.