E.D. Season Update

Spring & Summer 2026

1. 10 Weeks of Summer Camp hit record registrations!

It turns out, families in the area were VERY excited for a full day sports camp! This summer we offered a new structure: camps in the morning and afternoon, or the option to make it a full day and stay through lunch. The response was staggering:

Total of 720 half-day registrations, more than doubling the 320 half-day registrations in Summer 2025!
86% of registrants chose to come for the full day (9 am - 4 pm)
Week 10 (the last full week before school starts) was especially popular.
Great feedback from kids & parents - we’ll continue adjusting to make Summer 2027 even MORE fun!

Watch a cute Summer Camp wrap-up video here.

2. Community Impact Programs: wrapped up the 2025-2026 school year

PLAY Program, in honor of Monica Kelly (formerly known as STEP), finished a great school year of FREE tennis, pickleball, and skating instruction to 32 school groups and over 680 kids.
FASTrack, our Financial Aid and Scholarship program served over 60 families with discounted & free programming.
“Play-It-Forward” (Roller Skate Nights that help local non-profits with their fundraising efforts), granted out $2,500 to organizations like Sweet Tree Arts, Storm U10 hockey, Islesboro School, and CHILLS booster groups.

3. Gala Gone Rogue, Summer Showdown, beat our goals!

This year’s summer fundraiser was a wonderful success. We raised $75,000 to support our Community Impact Programs (above). We appreciate all of you who joined us and made the evening one to remember!

Check out this video summary of the event.

Check out this video of the Pickleball staff gloating about their Summer Showdown victory.

4. Facility & Administrative Operations

HIGHLIGHTS:

Eric K. Lee Memorial Courts opened in July! These four beautiful, lighted tennis courts are available for reservation now!
The Game Room next to the arena has been decorated and filled with fun games for the kiddos; along with a hand painted mural commemorating the passion of Midcoast Rec, by a local artist.
We welcomed some new staff - please say hello if you see these people, and introduce yourself!

- David August, Facilities Director
- Samantha Phinney, Marketing & Development Associate
- Carrie Burridge, Front Desk Associate
- Emma Day, part-time Pickleball pro
- Bobby Katz, part-time Tennis Pro
- Chuck Wyman, facilities
Thanks to everyone for stopping and checking in at the Front Desk before heading to your programs & reservations.

LOWLIGHTS:

While our other expenses have stayed in budget, the increase in utility costs (electricity, propane, and gas) has outpaced expectations. We are not the only facility to be experiencing this. We are planning some longer-term energy efficiency improvements.
After 8 years, we said goodbye to Mariah Jones as she headed out on a new adventure in South Carolina.
Air Conditioning issues plagued us this summer, we thank you for your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.

5. Looking Ahead to Fall & Winter - ICE SEASON!

Incremental Price Increase: Every September we evaluate the need to increase our prices. In order to keep our staff cared for and our expenses covered we are increasing our fees slightly this fall. We do not take price changes lightly as we always want to ensure that our facility is a community hub that welcomes local residents and does NOT require a membership fee. We are committed to keeping any increases minimal.
Updated Rates effective October 1st, 2026
- Tennis Court hourly reservations: $46/hour/court
- Pickleball Court hourly reservations: $26/hour/court
- Weights & Skates Membership: $32 per month ($22 for Rockport Residents)
- Programs: many programs will see a small increase in hourly price, in the $1/hour range.
- Public Ice Skate: no change
- Financial Aid: I encourage any family with any financial difficulty to join our FASTrack program to financial aid & scholarship funds for programming and reservations. Just fill out this form.
*NEW* Peak Season Membership: The Summer membership was so popular that we’re trying out a Peak Season membership as well; learn more here.
*NEW* Programs: A number of new programs are being offered starting this fall. We hope many of you will take advantage of these. As always, go to www.midcoastrec.org and click on REGISTER in the upper-right to explore all of our programs or check them out in the Midcoast Recreation Center app.

I’m so excited to kick off the ice season in a couple of weeks, see many of you on the courts and in the golf bays, and welcome your kids for all of our after-school youth programs! Thank you for being part of the Midcoast Rec community.