Aurora Cooks

Q. How popular is the program? Have you gotten positive feedback from attendees? Repeat attendees?

A. We have many regulars, repeat guests and those that come to check class out in response to a recommendation. They also usually bring a friend!

Q. What else should readers know about the Aurora Cooks program? Any funny or memorable experiences?

A. During the Covid shut down of programs, we were the first program in our Recreation division to go virtual with our classes. Our guests would receive the recipes, shop for ingredients and cook in their own kitchens with our chefs guiding them - virtually. We had one family that signed up and included a family member from Australia.

Q. Can you talk about the Honey I Shrunk the Chef class?

A. This is one of our Parent Tot classes. A parent brings their child (3-6 years old) and we facilitate a cooking experience for them. Generally these classes are theme based classes and one of our most popular categories. This class focuses on making fun “miniaturized” recipes.

Course description:

HONEY, I SHRUNK THE CHEF A delicious disaster has occurred. The shrink ray has malfunctioned and blasted our kitchen and MINIATURIZED everything. Join us as prepare some hugely flavorful yet teeny-tiny dishes with your toddlers. Menu: Mini Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Sliders, Shrunken Cinnamon Rainbow Toast and Shrink Ray Fresh Apple Ginger Lemonade.

Feel the Beat

Partnership strives to make dance accessible for everyone in Lakewood

By Allysen Santilli, City of Lakewood

A group of Lakewood residents can experience music like never before while they dance along to the beat! Feel the Beat, a local nonprofit on a mission to make the experience of music and dance possible for those who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing and for those with or without disabilities, has partnered with the City of Lakewood, to bring a one-of-a-kind reverberating floor to Whitlock Recreation Center. Through Feel the Beat’s patented floor technology, sound waves are converted into vibrations felt on a pliable floor. These vibrations travel through the bones and hearing system just as a sound wave would move through the air, allowing students to connect with the music and the beat through body motion. When combined with a specialized curriculum, musical tools and teachers communicating via Sign Language, the result is a fully accessible and inclusive music and dance experience.