News Vinton's New Parks & Recreation Director is a Hometown Kid Who Never Really Left

Thursday night at the City Council meeting, something quietly special happened. The council voted to name Scott Wirth as Vinton ¢â‚¬â„¢s new Parks and Recreation Director. For most towns, that ¢â‚¬â„¢s a line item on an agenda. But for Vinton, it ¢â‚¬â„¢s a little more than that ¢â‚¬â€�because Scott isn ¢â‚¬â„¢t just another hire. He ¢â‚¬â„¢s one of ours.

If you ¢â‚¬â„¢ve lived here long enough, the name Wirth probably rings a bell. Maybe it takes you back to Wirth Jewelry, the downtown shop Paul and Carmen Wirth ran in the ¢â‚¬â„¢60s. It wasn ¢â‚¬â„¢t just a store; it was the kind of place where folks stopped in to get a watch fixed and ended up staying to swap a story or two. Scott is their grandson, the son of Mike and Heidi, and brother to Andrew. The Wirth family has been part of Vinton ¢â‚¬â„¢s fabric for decades ¢â‚¬â€�woven right in with the parades, the ballgames, and the flags down Fourth Street.

Scott remembers the time he spent participating in VPRD activities well. ¢â‚¬Å“I was the kid who showed up to most of the Farmer ¢â‚¬â„¢s Markets. I was at the rec center, the skating rink, the pool, ¢â‚¬ � he said. ¢â‚¬Å“I was truly a parks and rec kid! ¢â‚¬ �

And now, that kid is running the place that helped raise him.

Scott started with Vinton Parks and Recreation in 2019, mowing grass and keeping the parks looking sharp as a part-time maintenance worker. By 2022, he was Assistant Director, learning the ropes from Matt Boggess, who has since gone on to lead parks and rec in Hiawatha.

¢â‚¬Å“A big shoutout to Matt for being such a great mentor, ¢â‚¬ � Scott said, ¢â‚¬Å“and to the current crew ¢â‚¬â€�Nicole Druschel, Ben Gingrich, Alan Merchant, and Brian Elwick ¢â‚¬â€�who keep everything humming. They ¢â‚¬â„¢re the reason things get done around here. ¢â‚¬ �

Scott keeps an old photo of himself ¢â‚¬â€�eight or nine years old, grinning under a Vinton Parks and Recreation hat he got at a Farmer ¢â‚¬â„¢s Market. That picture, in a way, tells the whole story.

¢â‚¬Å“There ¢â‚¬â„¢s something special about serving the place that helped make you who you are, ¢â‚¬ � he said. ¢â‚¬Å“I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve been lucky to grow my career right here, and I ¢â‚¬â„¢m truly grateful for the opportunity to keep building something for this town. ¢â‚¬ �

This fall, Wirth and his team are already lining up the usual activities and a list of smaller park projects before the snow flies. He ¢â‚¬â„¢s got plans, sure ¢â‚¬â€�but mostly, he ¢â‚¬â„¢s got perspective.

¢â‚¬Å“We have a great foundation, ¢â‚¬ � he said. ¢â‚¬Å“Going forward, I just want to keep building on it and give this community the kind of parks and programs that brought me up. ¢â‚¬ �

Before stepping into parks and rec full-time, Scott coached baseball at Vinton-Shellsburg and earned degrees from Hawkeye Community College and the University of Northern Iowa in recreation, tourism, and nonprofit leadership.

Now, as director, he ¢â‚¬â„¢s not just maintaining the parks ¢â‚¬â€�he ¢â‚¬â„¢s tending the roots. The same ones his grandparents planted, his parents nurtured, and this community watered for generations.