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08/16/2017 08:30 AMMore than 20 years ago, Dan Colonia and his wife Megan Hughes grew up in Long Island and moved to Litchfield for work after Dan graduated college. They then decided to move to Killingworth more than 20 years ago, with their infant son.
“Megan was working in Wallingford and it was quite a ride for her and her friends suggested we look for a house in Killingworth since we like the country,” says Dan, who was working as a software engineer at the time. “We looked around and found an old house built in 1792, that had already been modernized, with five acres of land and woods all over.
“We had a young child we wanted to bring up in a nice, safe environment with clean air, and the schools attracted us,” adds Dan. “We love our house and still are enjoying it.”
Soon after moving to town, they had a daughter and as the children grew, they began to get involved with sports and activities. As their children got more involved, Dan’s interest in local facilities and organizations was piqued.
“I first got involved through the local soccer club and found out that the [Haddam-Killingworth Parks & Recreation] Commission [HKPRC) takes care of all of the parks,” says Dan. “My children were beginning to use the fields and I was appalled by the condition of some of the fields. They were in really bad shape and I decided I wanted to do something to change that. I wanted my kids to have a nice place to play.”
Ed Sipples, a former selectman, invited Dan to join the HKPRC in 2003. Dan was happy to get involved and five years later he took over as chairman of the committee, a position he has held ever since.
Throughout his time with the commission, Dan has been involved in renovating and updating town fields as well as creating new facilities. He worked on obtaining the property that is now Parmelee Farm as well as the Wettish property.
“The park was being used for all of the sports and the fields were just getting destroyed, so the first thing we needed to do was move the field sports to another location,” says Dan. “With the Wettish property, we planned multipurpose fields that came online a couple years ago. It was recently renamed Eric Auer Park in memory of someone who was a tremendous supporter of what we were doing.”
Once the field sports were moved off of Sheldon Park, Dan, the commission, and volunteers began to modernize the park with fresh playing surfaces, irrigation, new equipment, handicap accessible and inclusive equipment, and walking paths through the park. The group worked with the town and obtained STEAP grants from the state. Dan also notes that getting good bids from a local contractor “helped our budget tremendously.”
Dan is proud to see what Sheldon Park has become as it now has activities for residents of all ages. He has also been able to enjoy the results of his many years of volunteer work firsthand as he plays with an over-40 soccer team on Sunday mornings.
“It’s nice to go out on a Sunday morning and play soccer on these beautiful fields in the countryside and say, ‘I was involved with this,’” says Dan, who also coaches with Foundation Soccer Club. “Sheldon Park has become a great park.”
While Dan is the chairman of the HKPRC, he is quick to point out that the group does not run the parks, but rather acts as “guardians” to the parks. He and the commission work closely with the town sports leagues, which he credits for working hard to keep the parks clean and up-to-date.
“One of the things people can do to help is get involved with the sports their children participate in, because those groups always volunteer to do little jobs for the parks,” says Dan. “If you think you can do something to improve the park, come to us.”
Even though Dan’s children are now grown—his son is about to start law school and his daughter just graduated from University of Connecticut—Dan is more involved than ever in the town’s recreational facilities. He is the current chairman of the Haddam-Killingworth Recreation Authority (HKRA), which is made up of four members of the recreation commissions from both Haddam and three members of the recreation commission from Killingworth.
The HKRA oversees a variety of recreational programs that are offered to residents of both towns including archery, peewee soccer, yoga, zumba, and more. In addition, the HKRA works with the before- and after-school care programs, swim lessons, lifeguard training, summer camps, and more.
“We have a pretty extensive program with 150-plus activities,” says Dan. “It’s a very comprehensive program for such a small town. We may be small, but we have a choice of activities that our citizens could do.”
Dan says being a part of the HKRA allows him to work with others on ideas to better both towns. In working on both the HKPRC and the HKRA for so many years, Dan has built many strong friendships as well.
“I’ve enjoyed it and I’m proud of what we have accomplished. We have a great group of volunteers and members of the commission,” says Dan. “I’m proud of the commitment from many, many people from the volunteers and clubs to the selectman and Board of Finance. It has evolved from that I want my kids to play on something good to that I want the community to have places to play sports and be proud of them.”
For more information on Haddam-Killingworth Recreation programs, visit hkrec.com.