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The Coon Rapids City Council is going on the road three times this summer to meet with residents in neighborhood parks.
The first of the annual Summer in the City events this year was on Tuesday, June 13 at Moor Park, 10921 Magnolia St. NW, followed by Tuesday, June 27 at Woodcrest Park, 901 103rd Ave. NW, and Tuesday, July 11 at Boulevard Plaza, 11002 Crooked Lake Blvd., adjacent to the Coon Rapids Ice Center, all from 6:30-8 p.m.
It’s an opportunity for council members and city staff to visit informally with residents, who can ask questions, express concerns and learn more about the city.
City departments will have display tables and booths set up on various topics, while a fire truck, police car and public works equipment will be on hand for the public, especially kids, to explore.
In addition, free ice cream and water will be served.
The first Summer in the City event took place in 2009 at Aspen Park. It was so successful that the council decided to expand it in 2010 to meetings in five neighborhood parks, one in each ward.
About five years ago, the city scaled back to four events a year, said Kristin DeGrande, city housing programs coordinator, who started the Summer in the City program when she was neighborhood coordinator.
“It was just too many events every summer,” DeGrande said.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of the 2020 Summer in the City program, but it resumed in 2021 with “appropriate protocols,” she said.
But it did so with a new look and three events each year.
“The council specifically wanted fewer events so each one would be bigger,” DeGrande wrote in an email. “We started adding other entertainment such as a magician, a bubble guy and the fire department did a water spray. There are also other kids things.”
Entertainment planned this year includes the bubble baron at Moor Park, brilliant balloon artist at Woodcrest Park and a strolling variety artist at Boulevard Plaza.
The Summer in the City program has evolved over the years, DeGrande said.
When it began, it was a meeting for the council to share updates on city projects, programs and events, going into the community to meet with residents instead of asking them to come to city hall, DeGrande wrote in an email.
“Now, it’s so much less a meeting and so much more of an event where residents can walk around and choose to talk with whichever departments and council members they would like,” she wrote.
From the city’s perspective, the Summer in the City program has provided more authentic engagement with the public without one specific purpose, DeGrande.
“It’s just a really casual and fun way to interact and learn for both council members and residents,” DeGrande said.
To get the word out, Summer in the City is publicized on the city website, in the city newsletter, on boulevard signs placed the day before the event near the park location and postcards mailed to some 1,200-1,500 residents each time, she wrote.
SOURCE: Hometown Source
