Bend Park and Rec expands winter program registration times, makes other changes to avoid problems

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Park and Recreation District has expanded the timeframe and made several changes to its online registration for winter programs after overwhelming fall demand caused technical issues and great frustration, when so many people tried to get in to register at once.

Here's the notice recently sent to patrons:

We asked and you answered! A big "thank you" to the more than 1,400 people who completed our recent patron survey to help inform us of preferred dates and times for future registrations.

Two things confirmed by the majority of patrons were the preference for early morning registration time and preference for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday registration days. We also heard a strong preference for staggered registration dates for the most in-demand programs. Staggering registration over three days will reduce initial registration volume by 70% each day.

So, using your input, the Winter registration dates and times are:

Monday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 a.m.: Recreation and Enrichment Programs for January - March
Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 6:00 a.m.: Swim Lessons for January - March
Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6:00 a.m.: Sports including Ice Sports for January - March and sports leagues with January - March registration deadlines: Youth Hockey League, Youth Lacrosse League, Girls Softball League, Adult Curling League, Adult Hockey Lunch League, Adult Spring Soccer League, Bitty Baseball

Winter program registration includes art classes, basketball, ice skating and much more. Watch your inbox for more information and details on the new registration process.

We've made a commitment to improving our registration process and your input is crucial in that effort. Already, we have taken some steps to ensure a smoother experience.

The technology improvements include:

10x increase in bandwidth.

Improving server performance to accommodate up to twice the volume of transactions per minute.

Added virtual waiting room feature to avoid overloading systems, similar to what is used for purchasing concert tickets.

Many system refinements to fix other software bottlenecks.

The fall registration activity was 800 percent more than the same opening day in 2018. This indicates to us that we have much higher urgency to registration than in the past.

Thank you for assisting us in serving you and others at a higher level.

Julie Brown
Communications and Community Relations Manager
Bend Park & Recreation District