Smithville Park to Offer Croquet, Employers Sought for Youth Program

Play croquet at Smithville Park 
Freeholders here are sponsoring Wednesday night games of croquet on the Smithville Park lawn this summer, beginning this week.  

Friends of the Mansion at Smithville will host organized croquet games in the park for the public every Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm and at 6:30 pm.  

Games will be open to players ages 12 and up and the cost will be $5 per person. Participants will receive 15 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes of game time. There will also be an end-of-season tournament with a fee of $25 per person. 

A popular lawn game during the Victorian era, croquet involves hitting balls through hoops embedded in a grass playing court. Today, the game is played as both a recreational pastime and competitive sport. 

All proceeds will benefit the restoration and maintenance of the Historic Smithville Mansion. Historic Smithville Park is located on Smithville Road in Eastampton, just three-quarters of a mile off Route 38.

For more information, or to register for a game, call 609-265-5858. For more information about the Friends of the Mansion at Smithville and public tours of the mansion, go to smithvillemansion.org.

Employers sought for summer youth program 
More than five dozen young people have signed up for Burlington County’s federally funded Summer Youth Employment program. The county is now actively seeking employers willing and able to hire—at no cost to them.

 The youth, ages 14 to 21, typically fill a wide range of positions, working in retail stores, for landscaping companies, food service companies and restaurants, data entry positions, recreation programs, general maintenance, and a variety of clerical/office-type jobs.

For the vast majority, this experience will be their first job. Therefore, they will attend and receive work readiness training, and will have job coaches available to them. 

The program is targeted to young people from low-income households. For example, a youngster coming from a family of four with an annual income less than $40,000 likely would meet this requirement.

Worker’s Compensation Insurance is also supplied by the county, and the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) will provide a brief pre-employment orientation on June 14  to familiarize employers with the program.

Those employers interested in learning more should contact Barbara Weir at the WIB at 609-265-5603 or via bweir@co.burlington.nj.us.