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Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee — August 20, 2024 Page 9 Committee Member Olson proposed a City -supported garage sale. This is already being done by two residents who run the event through Facebook. Surrounding cities do this. She said City Staff would take the reservations and create a map. The City would promote the event. A banner to help get the word out would be relatively inexpensive. Committee Member Olson said she has been to several of New Brighton's Discover -Your -Parks days. They are amazing but appear to be expensive. She thought a Discover -Your -Parks passport could be an affordable alternative. Residents would receive a passport with the names and addresses of all the parks. Each park would have a station with picture or a word associated with the passport program. Families would visit the parks and write what picture or word they found. When they have completed the entire passport they would bring it in to City Hall and get some small prize. One idea they thought of was a nice water bottle. A local business may be willing to sponsor the program to help with funding. Committee Member Olson said a Discover -Your -Trails event could be an option, too. She thought guided walks on the trails could be successful. Volunteers could take people on a guided trail walk in the fall or winter. Participants would meet at an agreed upon time and date and the guide could help introduce them to the trails. If this program were to move forward, the request would be to update the trails map so it only includes the built trails, not the future trails to avoid confusion. Committee Member Olson also thought the Fall Soccer Jamboree could be extended for an extra week. Committee Member Olson added that there is support for the Adopt -A -Park program. Committee Member Olson said adding food vendors to events, where it makes sense, can enhance the experience of the events. There would be no cost for that. It would just be finding a food truck that would like to attend the events. Committee Member Olson said her group tried to focus on affordable events with minimal engagement because it would be difficult to find support for a bigger event like the Lions Club hosted. Creating these events in baby steps could pave the way for an actual Discover -Your -Park event in 2025 or a 5K run in 2025/2026. Committee Member Olson used the Earth Day event as an example. She wondered how much time would the City need to coordinate an event like that. Or would it be the committee members promoting the event. She didn't know if there was enough time. When would staff need to know about the event in order to prepare for it? Recreation Supervisor Johnson said he would need information by January for an April event. Committee Member Olson asked if City Council would need to approve an event. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said it would depend on how the committee wanted to market the events. It could go in the activity guide listed as a special event. He is in support of all of the ideas. Free family events are what residents want. The community picnic is a great example of a low risk, high reward event.