By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
Lysander’s loss is North Syracuse’s gain. Last week, the village of North Syracuse welcomed its new recreation director, Tony Burkinshaw. After dedicating 15 years to the town of Lysander Parks and Recreation Department, Burkinshaw began his new position in North Syracuse on Nov. 30.
“I hope to bring good things to the village and I’m excited in looking forward to a fresh start, a new start,” Burkinshaw told the Star-Review. “I’m very passionate in what I do.”
Burkinshaw said he is looking forward to bringing new ideas to North Syracuse.
“This is what I love about small communities like the village. They do a lot of festivals, they do a lot of outdoor concerts,” he said. “We’ll bring new things there for sure. They have a great community center right in the heart of the village that we’d like to showcase. … It’s a walkable, bikeable community.”
Burkinshaw began his parks and rec career while studying at SUNY Brockport. He took a job with the town of Gates and later interviewed with then-Lysander Parks Director Ann Smiley.
“I’m a Central New York boy. I grew up over in Memphis, New York, which is a hamlet of Van Buren,” Burkinshaw said. “She took a chance on me and gave me the opportunity to move back to Central New York.”
Burkinshaw’s crowning achievement in Lysander likely is the town’s spray park, which welcomed more than 1,000 people on its opening day, Aug. 16, 2019, and saw a total of 3,000 guests during the 2019 season. While the spray park remained closed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Burkinshaw and Lysander Town Engineer Al Yager were honored for their work on the project. The spray park has received the Exceptional Park Design Award from both the Central New York Recreation and Parks Society and the New York State Recreation and Parks Society.
“It’s definitely a feather in our cap,” Burkinshaw said in October of the awards.
Under Burkinshaw’s tenure, the town of Lysander has also become the pickleball capital of Central New York. Pickleball, which originated in Seattle in 1965, is played on a badminton-sized court with a lower net, a wooden paddle and a whiffle ball. Snowbirds who picked up the sport in Florida brought it home to CNY, Burkinshaw said.
Lysander Park hosted the region’s first outdoor pickleball tournament in 2016 and continues to be a favorite court for local players.
“I’ve been told that it’s the best outdoor pickleball facility in the area,” Burkinshaw said. “When people stop to play pickle ball in Lysander, they stop to get gas, they stop to get something to eat. They’re still pumping money into the community.”
Burkinshaw lives in Van Buren with his wife, Jodi, and their three children. He plans to continue coaching wrestling in the Baldwinsville Central School District.
“I was proud to be a part of the community. I was proud to serve the community whether it was coaching or parks and recreation. We’re happy where we’re at,” he said. “Possibly I might be able to enjoy the events [in Baldwinsville] now instead of working them.”
One thing Burkinshaw plans to bring with him to North Syracuse is the spirit of community and collaboration he learned in Lysander.
“It was a nice community-based network of friends for support. It’s rewarding to know you’re part of a community like that,” he said.
Burkinshaw said he is looking forward to possibly collaborating with Cicero Parks and Rec Director Teresa Roth, who held the top parks job in North Syracuse until the summer of 2020.
“She didn’t go that far away,” Burkinshaw said. “It’s not like I can’t pick up the phone and give her a ring and say, ‘Hey, Teresa, how did you do this thing?’ It’s not like I can’t drive to her office and sit in a chair and ask her to walk me through this. She’s right up the road in the town of Cicero.”
To learn more about activities and events in the village of North Syracuse, visit facebook.com/NSYRPNR or call the parks and rec office at 315-458-8050.
