Latest / The City of Frankfort Podcast / Ep 29: They Found What? Parks Edition
Transcript
- 0:22From Capitol Halls to Bourbon Balls, this is the City of Frankfurt podcast.
- 0:25For the Frankfurtians, we're swapping stories and spilling the tea and celebrating
- 0:29the quirks that make Kentucky's capital the best hometown around.
- 0:31Welcome to the City of Frankfurt podcast. I'm Alex, and today we are back with
- 0:36a segment called You Would Not Believe What We Found, where we talk to the City
- 0:39of Frankfurt staff about strange things they've come across.
- 0:42Today, I'm joined by Juniper Hills Golf Course Superintendent Adam Kirk.
- 0:48He's one of our main park managers, and he's awesome.
- 0:51It's easy to enjoy a beautiful park without realizing how much work happens
- 0:54before the gates open each morning, whether it's repairing playground equipment,
- 0:58preparing athletic fields, responding after storms, or occasionally discovering
- 1:03something completely unexpected.
- 1:05The Parks Department keeps Frankfort's parks safe, clean, and welcoming for all ages year-round.
- 1:10We're excited today to talk more about the behind the scenes of our city parks.
- 1:14Welcome, Adam. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
- 1:17Let's get to know you a little bit. Tell us more about what you do for parks.
- 1:20I'm the golf course superintendent for Juniper Hills Golf Course.
- 1:24I do the daily today stuff, irrigation, spray chemicals, that sort of thing,
- 1:29take care of the grounds, trash, bathrooms, that sort of thing.
- 1:33I've worked in parks since 2014.
- 1:37Started my career in Parkland, Florida, then became superintendent at Lincoln Homestead in 2016.
- 1:43Then recently, I got the job here at Frankfort in February of 22.
- 1:47Cool. Or January of 22, sorry. Cool.
- 1:49Cool. So you're the main manager for the maintenance of the Judiper Hills Golf
- 1:53Course. But since we're all kind of a team, you're going to represent today all the staff.
- 1:58You're here for all of us, right? I'll do my best. Talk all of our craziness today. Okay.
- 2:03So you told us your job title and some of your work experience.
- 2:07Gosh, you answered us all the questions. So you pretty much just...
- 2:10You're the guy that makes the golf course look beautiful. I try to, the best we can. Yeah.
- 2:15I don't think the community realizes that we have such a huge park system,
- 2:18which includes an 18-hole golf course. A lot of park systems don't include that.
- 2:23It's a city-ran golf course that's award-winning. We host the Governor Open
- 2:28every year. That's great. It's
- 2:30a really big deal for our huge parks department to have a golf course.
- 2:36So, walk us through like a day in your life.
- 2:39Like, what time do you clock in and what do you kind of do each day?
- 2:42I know depending on the weather and the seasons, every day is different.
- 2:46I don't think people realize that no matter the weather, we're real busy.
- 2:49So, kind of walk us through a day in your life. Yeah, I usually clock in anywhere
- 2:52from 6 to 6.30, depending on what we have going on.
- 2:55And first thing I get there, eat breakfast. Make sure I wait for my guys to
- 2:59get there. Then do daily assignments, like to pick in particular what's going on that day.
- 3:04If there's women's league excuse me or men's league um so just basically get
- 3:07the get the day going and get everyone out to have their their task yeah yeah
- 3:11it's it's a constant constant movement after everybody gets going isn't it,
- 3:16it sounds like you never really know what's waiting for you when the day gets
- 3:19going um and this is for you and all of our parks guys um.
- 3:24Specifically at the golf course first and then kind of throughout the parks
- 3:27what kind of issues do you run into on a daily basis like,
- 3:30i think all of us love our jobs so much because you never know what the day
- 3:33is going to bring like you get here and it's not the same thing ever every day,
- 3:37uh no every day is different um like most of the time i'd always do a course
- 3:41check seat you know bathrooms trash etc,
- 3:44look for vandalism that's mostly one of the issues we have and i'm sure that's
- 3:47common throughout all the parks right um but yeah just uh some of the issues we've had um.
- 3:53Not a lot just mostly vandalism people take benefits out of greens and things
- 3:56like that so we have to go and fix it right things on the greens with the uh
- 4:00yeah there's spray paint graffiti that sort of things.
- 4:03Still golf clubs, off the bathrooms, you name it, it happens.
- 4:07So I think it is generally a thing through all of our parks.
- 4:10And people, I think, think when it closes down at night and it's dark,
- 4:13it's just quiet and calm. But we have a whole nother set of people that kind
- 4:16of come out and show up. And so you've got to regroup from the night.
- 4:19The next morning, you've got to figure out what's been vandalized.
- 4:22Any any surface up for game whether
- 4:24it's playground equipment or pavilion walls or anything like that um,
- 4:28you know unfortunately we have kind of a homeless population we have to deal
- 4:32with so we got to get whoever's sleeping in the park out that sort of thing
- 4:35um so you don't really know what you're going to find every morning before like
- 4:39uh they told me some homeless people have stayed in our pump houses which i
- 4:42wasn't aware of yeah so make sure to lock the doors now yeah so,
- 4:45it's not coming to my mind yeah it's unfortunate we all hate that for them but
- 4:49um yeah that's always. You never know what you're going to find in the morning.
- 4:52Our guys start pretty early. I think most crews start, some come in as early
- 4:56as five, but most crews start anywhere from six to seven and it's a full, full long day.
- 5:01What's your favorite part of your job? What do you love most about it?
- 5:04There's not a day I dread coming to work.
- 5:06I love coming to work. I enjoy what I do.
- 5:10I like my guys. I love my guys. And I also love hanging out with you guys and
- 5:14doing things like this yeah so it's definitely different but,
- 5:17i i don't dread coming to work ever right i think um it sounds very cliche but
- 5:22our department specifically i hope the other city departments feel like this i feel in parks like
- 5:26and we do have some turnover there's some people that come and go and that's
- 5:29normal but i think generally the people that stay around for a while we all
- 5:32kind of mesh and become like a family and a team yes,
- 5:34and we love each other we've got each other's backs and i think that's a real
- 5:38positive for our department like
- 5:39we kind of we want to help like we genuinely like each other yeah we do like
- 5:44i'll help different parks at different times yeah and like like why's your guys
- 5:47will help help me out when i need help so we're just kind of all intermeshed
- 5:51i think that's why we like to come to work because we know people's got our backs
- 5:54yeah yeah i think so too yeah that's that's good to hear i'm glad you feel the
- 5:57same way that i feel that makes me happy,
- 6:00um what's something visitors probably never noticed that takes a tremendous
- 6:04amount of work so they just come enjoy our facilities what are what's some things
- 6:07that they probably don't know really behind the scenes well on the golf side
- 6:10it's just you know you have to have everything ready by 7 30 or as soon as your
- 6:13first tee time is right and that involves like i said getting all the guys out get going make sure
- 6:18greens are mowed or rolled bunkers are done fairway to mold,
- 6:21mode uh and definitely protect trash and bathrooms that's a big complaint we
- 6:25get sometimes yes so i think that's common throughout all the parks all the
- 6:28parks i think people don't realize they're outdoor bathrooms so they're going
- 6:31to attract wild bikes they're going to attract.
- 6:34Bugs they're going to attract people that maybe are struggling and so um people
- 6:40sometimes complain because they're outdoor bathrooms but they have to be cleaned
- 6:43so much you can clean them,
- 6:44one like an hour in the next hour later it'll be completely dirty yes so our
- 6:48guys like you you would have to check bathrooms hourly i wish i had a guy for
- 6:52that yeah i wish we had enough staff to just have bathroom guys Yeah.
- 6:55The bathrooms are a thing. I think minimal things. Like people don't realize,
- 7:00like just weed eating. You have one guy that can weed eat for eight hours a
- 7:03day because every edge of every green space is weed eat.
- 7:06I believe our property is like 95 acres. Yeah. And we only have like seven guys to take care of it.
- 7:10So that's quite a bit of area to take care of. Like people just enjoy it.
- 7:13And it's beautiful. And we take pride in making it beautiful.
- 7:15But our park system has 800 acres total. So that's a lot of maintaining.
- 7:20And then if we don't get to it one day, we know we're aware of it.
- 7:23We're just a lot of people to get there. to do it just yet. So be patient.
- 7:26Somebody will make you aware one day.
- 7:28Yeah, exactly. Um, if you could ask park visitors to do just a couple of things, uh,
- 7:34What would you ask them to do? Like just to respect the space when they come and enjoy it?
- 7:37Oh, well, just, it goes throughout any park. Like if you see trash,
- 7:40even though you didn't throw it down, pick it up, please. Yeah,
- 7:42put a trash can. It's just nice. Yeah.
- 7:44And don't throw it down. Yeah, don't throw it down. How about that?
- 7:46Yeah. That's a no-brainer.
- 7:48Yeah. I actually compliment the guys sometimes too when you're out seeing around
- 7:51and say, hey, good job, man. Yeah. To boost some morale sometimes,
- 7:53you know? Yes. That would be great.
- 7:55I agree. And on the golf course side, if some golfers would fix divots,
- 7:58that would be great. Yeah.
- 8:00If they would use the sand divots, that would be great, too.
- 8:04Yeah, other than that, it's just like just some common courtesy.
- 8:06That's like respecting you all, but also respecting the people playing behind
- 8:09you, too. Exactly. Yeah. And fix your ball marks. That's another big thing. Yeah.
- 8:12I know from like the athletic side of it, the guys work to get the fields fixed
- 8:16when they drag and lie on the fields and get the bases right for whatever team's
- 8:20getting ready to play, whoever's reserved the field, whatever game's about to happen.
- 8:24And they try to get it ready to go. And then if they do it too early,
- 8:26somebody's already played on it. or they let their dog run on it.
- 8:29That's what you're going to say. If it's already been raked and done,
- 8:31then it's prepped for someone else. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So just have a little.
- 8:34So they're so disappointed when a team shows up and the field doesn't look as
- 8:38good as they'd left it because somebody let their dog run across the lines or
- 8:40somebody, you know, was slipping, sliding, riding bikes. So you see a fixed field.
- 8:45Leave it alone. Play on another field. We'll just play in the grass.
- 8:47Yeah, that sort of thing.
- 8:49Let's get to some strange things. Let's get to the fun stuff.
- 8:53Some of the, we can't say everything, can we?
- 8:55Let's say the PG stuff. um what's one of the strangest things you've ever found
- 9:00in your golf course or in a park
- 9:03um this goes back to where i worked at lincoln homestead uh one summer um i
- 9:07just heard this dog barking right yeah i didn't think anything of it and it
- 9:10was in a creek and it turned out to be a little beagle puppy yeah
- 9:14uh so i was like okay this will be where's the mom,
- 9:17uh an hour later came back there was another puppy,
- 9:19Like two hours later, it came back. There was another puppy.
- 9:21So like, I'm just going to sit here and wait. See how many puppies I get. Yeah.
- 9:24I ended up getting like four beagle puppies from that one area. Never found her mother.
- 9:30And then my wife and I put that on Facebook and we rehomed them all.
- 9:33Oh, great. Yeah. You know, beagles are my favorite. I figured you would like that.
- 9:36I wonder where mom was. I don't know. That worries me. Yeah.
- 9:38Well, I'm glad you gave them home.
- 9:40Yeah. So that's the strangest thing I found. Well, also when I was in Florida,
- 9:43there's an alligator on a baseball field. Yeah. So, in Parkland,
- 9:47we called the cops, and literally every person from the department showed up
- 9:51and took pictures. And I have a picture with me.
- 9:52To deal with the alligator? To deal with the alligator. That's funny.
- 9:54I hope they didn't shoot it, but I don't know. I'm glad alligators are not a
- 9:57thing for us here. Yes. We deal with a lot of wildlifeers that alligators aren't.
- 10:00I think some of the strangest things, like when we cleaned up from the flood
- 10:04and we found weird stuff like the trash bag full of baby doll heads.
- 10:07Do you remember we ripped the bag open and it was full of baby doll heads?
- 10:10I think I was probably doing sand by that time. Well, we came up with so many
- 10:13stories about this bag of baby doll heads.
- 10:16We came up with so many stories we don't even know where they came from but
- 10:19you know weird things like that um just recently
- 10:22um people are don't are private about their bathroom habits and a gentleman
- 10:27used the bathroom in the front yard of our office our main office right in the
- 10:30front yard yeah really funny yeah yeah he did wasn't shy about and we all saw
- 10:34it yeah everybody saw he wasn't shy at all um,
- 10:38it was people we love people yeah anyway um okay the funniest thing someone
- 10:44has ever called or emailed about that you've gotten?
- 10:48For me, mostly you guys, you know, shill me for most of that. We try to, yes.
- 10:52Yeah, because no one has my direct number. Yes, we try to main all that through
- 10:56the office. Yeah. Yeah, so you would know more stories than I would know stories.
- 10:59Funny things, just playing pranks on guys at work sometimes.
- 11:02Yeah. Yeah. Only thing I have.
- 11:05We get so many. We try to really respect when people call because everybody's
- 11:09passionate about different things.
- 11:11We've had one where a parent complained that there was too much dirt on the
- 11:15dirt ball fields, which were going to cause respiratory issues for their kids.
- 11:19Some of them we just don't have a solution for. We don't know how to resolve that.
- 11:24I kind of wish we would have written some of this stuff down in some years that
- 11:27we could have it for instances like this. Yeah. I want to write a book or at
- 11:31least maybe I'm going to put cameras on you all and do like a real reality show.
- 11:34If we did cameras, we would make a lot of money out of that.
- 11:37Parks and Recreation show would not have a chance against our reality show.
- 11:40We would have had a new award for the stuff. Definitely. I think so.
- 11:46Speaking of wildlife, what kind of wildlife here? Not Florida here.
- 11:51Here, the coolest thing I have here, which I think people know,
- 11:54is the red saw hawk that was supposedly rehabilitated here. And then he still,
- 11:59he or she, I don't know which is which.
- 12:01I've seen it kill a bird. and then like hover over it like it's proud of us
- 12:06it still lives on the course doesn't it yeah it's still i saw him yesterday
- 12:08i took a picture a couple days ago but yeah yeah uh but we see all kinds of
- 12:12deer uh yeah squirrels rabbits i have a pet uh,
- 12:16ground hauling out of the shop right i'm not gonna hurt him or do anything yeah
- 12:19he makes a mess but the fool has skunks like you like no other we have but we've
- 12:22had a skunk problem since the beginning of time at the aquatic center i know
- 12:25that we always you baby squirrels i mean baby skunks yeah and you trap them
- 12:29right yeah yeah we don't kill anything parks department doesn't kill anything yeah um and.
- 12:35It's funny we have a nature preserve a wildlife space in which we see all kinds
- 12:40of things snakes we've had baby bunnies but the things that we were like,
- 12:44the crazy ones are like deers that get caught in the batting cages we have to
- 12:47get out or uh we had a hawk in a batting cage um,
- 12:53We have squirrels in trash cans. One of my staff had a squirrel run out of the
- 12:56trash can, up his shirt, all over his back.
- 12:59That's awesome. It's not funny, but I think when nature meets modern society
- 13:03is when we have the most issues, but we try really hard to respect nature. That's that.
- 13:09Lost and found is normally a pretty interesting thing. Have you ever had anything
- 13:14that was really, really valuable and returned?
- 13:17Well, on the golf course, people leave clubs all the time. Yeah, that stuff's valuable.
- 13:20Those are pricey. Just pin on the wedge. um you know range finders um
- 13:25i found a marijuana bowl yeah just threw it away in the trash yeah like i don't
- 13:28think they're gonna come back to that party hard yeah they're out there just
- 13:31having fun yeah um some cooler sometimes i'm sure like wallet keys all that
- 13:36stuff throughout the parks right just a generality yeah we find um,
- 13:40some of the things people haven't come back for like there's tons of chairs
- 13:44ball field chairs up on ball field chairs
- 13:46uh we keep trying to think of something fun to do with all the ball field chairs
- 13:49are they nice yeah you know how people they just set up their chair then they
- 13:52walk away like the rocker we've got all different times,
- 13:55you've lost your chair at one of our parks let us know we may be able to get
- 13:59it back to you kids leave ball gear you know how expensive ball gear is now
- 14:02gloves and bats and bags it's a mortgage payment yeah kids leave that stuff
- 14:06we try to keep everything,
- 14:07um we found a bunch of wallets in like whatever's popular now stanley's and
- 14:11all kinds of stuff yeah that they leave them around too right a lot of that
- 14:14we've got cowboy hats we've got a lot of hats we've got a lot of cowboy hats
- 14:17i don't know if you're you just,
- 14:19get to party in and don't remember your hat skateboards got skateboards is there
- 14:23a rodeo in town i don't know we've got a lot of weird stuff but yeah cool cowboys
- 14:28seem to forget their hats at our parks pretty often so um.
- 14:32Anything crazy. I tell you some crazy stuff we've seen, which we like.
- 14:38We have a gentleman who likes to rollerblade and practice sword fighting at
- 14:42the same time in our parking lots. That takes talent. He's at Juniper.
- 14:46He's at Capital View. He has to be very athletic because he can rollerblade,
- 14:51and sword fight with gear on at the same time. It's a real sword.
- 14:55It's a real sword, and he's athletic. How's he not going to help with that yet?
- 14:57I don't know, but he's pretty entertaining.
- 15:00It may not be a real sword. It may be like a nurse sword. but okay it's talent
- 15:03it makes sense it's real talent um.
- 15:06What do you think the busiest season is for you well for me personally obviously
- 15:11it's summer because you know we're on a golf course every day um i just think
- 15:15you know pretty much any day it's pretty
- 15:17yeah parks are going to be people are going to go to parks like it's just just
- 15:20might as well get used to it like if it's pretty out people are going to be
- 15:22out and that's what we like yeah we're like,
- 15:26crazy busy right now people are so funny they're like what are you doing the
- 15:29winter or like don't you have downtime after september and i'm like we don't
- 15:32know what downtime is we are so busy all the time it's not high on the hill,
- 15:38if it's pushing snow getting a christmas tree up,
- 15:42everybody services your equipment right and it is very weather dependent because
- 15:45i mean i've seen a pretty december day where people are playing golf our trails
- 15:49are full of people like and we we have to make it as enjoyable in december as we do in june so,
- 15:55it's it's constant constant i personally wouldn't be golfing but that's just
- 15:59me because you know it's cold yeah but people love it,
- 16:03yeah take a walk in the park and play golf yeah there's just been there's lots
- 16:08of crazy stuff that goes on can you think anything crazy.
- 16:11The funny thing is we catch stuff on security cameras a long time.
- 16:14The guy that went to the bathroom in the pavilion, we caught all that on security camera.
- 16:18Okay. People like to use the bathroom, you know, wherever they're at.
- 16:21Oh, yeah. And like when we close the bathrooms down in the winter,
- 16:23like, you know, people break in and use the bathroom. Yeah, there's no hair.
- 16:26People take baths in our bathrooms. Yeah.
- 16:29It's, like I say, we need a reality show. Definitely. Definitely.
- 16:32We're better locks on our bathrooms. Maybe. One or the other.
- 16:36Okay. Got anything else you want
- 16:39the world to know about the Parks Department? Uh, no, just come see us.
- 16:42Uh, it's very, I love what I do. I love my guys. Like I've said,
- 16:46I just love working for the city of Frankfurt. It's great. And I plan on retiring here. Yay.
- 16:51That makes me happy. Okay. Whatever happens. Thanks for sharing some of the stories.
- 16:55Uh, most of the people never heard about, and thanks to all of our parks employees
- 16:59for everything you do behind the scenes.
- 17:01If you enjoy our parks, remember that everyone plays a role in keeping them beautiful.
- 17:04Pick up after yourself, report maintenance occurrences, and most importantly,
- 17:08get outside, enjoy everything.
- 17:10Frankfort parks has to offer to learn more about frankfort parks visit frankfort
- 17:14kentucky parks and rec.com,
- 17:16we like to end our show with our frankfort rapid fire
- 17:20uh so our fellow frankfortians can hear some of your takes on your town you
- 17:24say the first thing that comes to mind i'm just going to tell you what i'm asking
- 17:27for and the first thing that comes to mind you don't even have to have an explanation
- 17:31unless you want one okay okay are you ready i'm ready okay,
- 17:34Best picnic location? I would probably say Juniper Hill Park just because it's
- 17:39my park. Yeah. It's popular. It's our home park. We love it. Yeah.
- 17:44Most underrated park? I think it would be Todd Park, right? Yes.
- 17:48That's a little pocket park.
- 17:51It's in a neighborhood. It's really quaint and quiet. It's got a trail and a pavilion.
- 17:57It's great. It's cool. It's a little pocket park.
- 18:00Favorite season in Frankfort? Be honest. I would say winter coast.
- 18:06It's slower for us. And it's like we still are busy, but like you don't have
- 18:10nearly as many people demanding. You almost can't breathe right now.
- 18:13So busy. Yes. Yeah. So definitely winter for me. Just a little breathing room.
- 18:17And for you, I know you're probably going to say summer for you.
- 18:19Well, no, I love summer like as a human being. But man, sometimes it's just
- 18:24I would like a break. Yeah. From the pool. Yeah.
- 18:29Coffee or tea? Beer. I knew you were going to say that. Yeah.
- 18:33If you had to pick coffee or tea, which one would you pick? I'd definitely coffee.
- 18:36Really? Yeah. Do you like tea?
- 18:37If it's green tea in the bottle. Yeah, I don't like tea, though.
- 18:39No, I don't like tea. I'm a coffee girl, too. Something weird about tea.
- 18:42I know you're going to pick beer, though. Yeah.
- 18:44Favorite frankfurt event oh for me it's christmas the lighting of the tree uh and i don't know why,
- 18:50because it's always a cluster and we're always responsible for putting together
- 18:54and we work really hard the plant board helps us a lot with the main heavy lifting
- 18:57yeah but just it's all like a just a fun like bring everyone together
- 19:01we all work on it and then like like last year it was snowing we were putting
- 19:04it up yeah it was cold as could be but it was still fun getting to hang out
- 19:07yeah we all got to be together we put it up and then it's like when it finally
- 19:10got lit that evening We were like the fruits of our labor.
- 19:13I didn't even see it get lit up because we were already gone.
- 19:16Yeah. But you all were here. That's a long process. But yeah, it's still fun. Yeah.
- 19:19That's a good answer. I like that. I like putting it up better than taking it down. Yes.
- 19:23That's not as fun. No, it's not as fun.
- 19:26Best place to enjoy a night out in Frankfurt? Well, to me, the prettiest place would be Cove.
- 19:31Yeah. You know, overlooking the bluff thing. Cove's really popular.
- 19:33Yeah. And you can't really beat that place. Yeah. We love our parts, obviously.
- 19:38Thanks for doing this with me. Yeah, it was awesome. It was really fun.
- 19:41Go out and play golf at Adams Golf Course. If you haven't tried golf,
- 19:44good place to try it out too. Great place. I love it. I play high school golf.
- 19:47Golf is one of my passions. How come I haven't seen you out there playing?
- 19:49Life. Working at the Parks Department.
- 19:52You know, I've never even played 18 holes there yet. We're going to play together.
- 19:54Yeah, well, let's do it. Everybody come out and play with us. Okay.
- 19:57Thanks for joining us this week. Fellow Frankfortians, we'll catch you again
- 20:00next week on the City of Frankfurt podcast. Don't forget to follow City of Frankfurt
- 20:03podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. And make sure you subscribe to our
- 20:07show feeds on Podbeam or wherever you get your podcasts to get weekly episode notifications.
- 20:12Thanks. Thank you. Bye.