NORTON - An upcoming free community outdoor ice skating party will help the parks and recreation commission get back on its feet.

The Feb. 20 skate at the town-owned Slattery property is on the board's first spring program calendar since it resumed total responsibility for Norton's recreation department last July 1.

The board also has set a $40,000 fundraising goal to open and maintain the town pool at Everett Leonard Park, Chairwoman Sheri Cohen said.

Local businesses are running many of the spring programs and donating part or all of the proceeds to parks and recreation and the pool, which the Attleboro-Norton YMCA operated for three years.

"The biggest part of that is people learning that the Y no longer runs our department," Cohen said. "It's going to take a lot to pull this together." The Attleboro-Norton YMCA was Norton's recreation director for three years at a cost of about $50,000 annually.

However, tight town finances prompted the town last spring to allocate only about $9,000 to the contract - just enough to fund the pool.

The contract expired Oct. 15, although the Y's advisory committee helped organize a new three-day Halloween weekend that ended with Norton's annual Chartley Halloween parade.

Cohen became one of several new parks and recreation commissioners appointed by selectmen last fall to fill vacancies.

She said her seven-member volunteer board's main goals are to open the pool and to maintain six Norton events: the skating party, Easter egg hunt, fishing derby, Halloween parade, lighting of the common and a mother-son/father-daughter dance that the Y will put on again this year.

"Our biggest concern is the pool right now - how are we going to pay for lifeguards and pay for a person to make sure things run smoothly there," Cohen said.

The free skating party will run at the Slattery property at 166 John Scott Blvd. from 3 to 6 p.m., weather permitting. Organizers hope to have a bonfire and offer concessions, Cohen said.

Organizers will try to reschedule the event if the ice isn't thick enough.

"It's really just a fun time for the community to get together," she said.

Cohen is directing residents to the new program brochure at http://nortonma.org/Pages/NortonMA_Recreation/programs . The offerings include kids' sports at Mass Premier Courts in Foxboro, paddling outings by Norton Kayak and martial arts classes for a variety of ages by the Martial Arts Connection in Norton.

"For our first go-round, it's not bad," Cohen said.

Also, Norton Youth Baseball/Softball will run Slugger Wiffle ball, a seven-week instructional program for 4-year-old boys and girls, on Saturday mornings starting May 1.

Registration ends Feb. 14.

The sports league will donate all of its proceeds to parks and recreation and the pool.

Cohen is accepting more program suggestions at sljm.cohen@comcast.net.

"We're hoping to offer new programs three to four times a year," Cohen said.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.