Ontario Engagement Recap
Phew, what a week! Our Community Schoolyards team spent Tuesday through Saturday gathering input from hundreds community members in four separate locations (plus had some AMAZING Mexican food while we were at it). A quick recap of our adventures:
In-Classroom Work
Wednesday and Thursday, we got to lead every single classroom at Alameda Elementary School through mini-design workshops. Our kids collaged, told stories, invented themed schoolyards in small groups, and even practiced pitching their ideas to their classmates! On top of the more visually-oriented engagement, we also had kids fill in some giant sheets of butcher paper to complete the sentence “Ontario is special because…”.
Festival of Trees
On Thursday and Friday, we set up a table at the Festival of Trees, Ontario’s annual fundraiser for Meals on Wheels and Help Them to Hope. Amongst the ornately decorated Christmas trees, cinnamon rolls, and…omg, is that an actual taxidermy pheasant on top of that tree?!…we got to ask folks what they loved about Ontario and what they liked to do outside. Our number one answer on what people liked about Treasure Valley? The people. And after getting to talk to hundreds of them, we couldn’t agree more!
Frosty Fest
Finally, we wrapped up the week with two days at the second-ever Frosty Fest in downtown. We had our lil’ table set up with the same poster board, and holy cow was it cold! Horse and buggy rides, free hot cocoa, and getting tricked by the Grinch were just a few of our highlights. Special shoutouts to The Bridge Renewed for letting us bum their electricity for the weekend, Origins Faith Community for letting us borrow some Christmas decorations, and Fiesta Guadalajara for being delicious and letting us host our partner happy hour there on Wednesday night.
Our team is working this month and next to compile all the input we’ve received so far, and we’ll be back in early 2023 with more engagement opportunities lined up. Until then, happy holidays!
Ho ho ho,
Your friendly neighborhood Community Schoolyards Team