Creativity outdoors

Resiliency is a team effort for parks staff

By aSHleY ReZaCHeK ashley.rezachek@apgsomn.com 2020 was the year of cancellations, closed doors and empty schedules as the COViD-19 pandemic spread across the globe. Despite all of the uncertainty, Owatonna Parks and Recreation Department staff made every effort to offer fun opportunities for residents to enjoy. “if we could choose a theme for our 2020, i would say it probably would be creativeness and resilience,” said Jessica abrahams, administrative technician at Owatonna Parks and Recreation.

While the crew wasn’t able to offer sports such as soccer and baseball near the beginning of the pandemic, they still found ways to continue with other activities. that often meant implementing new safety protocols or modifying events to accommodate social distancing or simply hosting events virtually.

“i feel like we did a really great job of coming up with creative ways to keep people engaged and active just between april and May last year, when we were ordered to stay at home,” abrahams said. the team offered a number of online and self-guided activities, encouraging people to get out and experience Owatonna parks and trails. among the activities hosted include a virtual easter egg hunt, where staff posted a picture of hidden easter eggs in an Owatonna park on Facebook. those who could identify the park and visited the location were rewarded with an easter egg decorating kit.

“this year has really made us think outside the box. We have definitely had to provide our programming in a very different way in order for the programming to happen all together.”

- recreation Supervisor dani Licht

the Chelin sisters on woodland drive were declared the winners of owatonna Parks and recreation’s “Chalk your walk” contest. (Photo courtesy of Jessica abrahams)

Other online-based activities included a spin off of March Madness called “Park Madness,” where Owatonna parks went head to head in a battle for the public’s vote. Facebook users could take a poll to narrow the choices down, those who predicted the winning park were entered into a drawing.

With the help of the Owatonna area Chamber of Commerce and tourism, the parks department hosted “Chalk Your Walk,” where families were encouraged to decorate driveways, sidewalks and park trails with inspiring chalk messages. Participants then shared pictures of their design online to compete for $50 in Owatonna Chamber bucks. to brighten people’s days, park staff also set up a joke hotline, so people could call in to hear a joke.

When the pandemic continued to drag on, the parks department expanded their efforts to provide activities for residents. the department partnered with the Owatonna Chamber to offer the Stronger together 50K, which helped raise money for Jumpstart Owatonna. the month-long challenge got residents to get 50 kilometers of activity in, allowing participants to earn a commemorative medal.

“this year has really made us think outside the box,” said Recreation Supervisor Dani licht. “We have definitely had to provide our programming in a very different way in order for the programming to happen all together.”

For example, swimming lesson class sizes were lowered. at first it was disheartening to shrink class sizes, but now the parks department has seen the benefits of reduced class sizes and may even continue with the smaller classes moving forward.

“We felt that our participants actually got a better class,” licht said. “it gave instructors the opportunity to provide some more thorough feedback to our students.”

While River Springs Water Park was open, park features such as the rock wall, lazy river, body slide and tube slide were shut down. the parks department wanted to create a safe and fun place for community members to still visit as most other places were shut down.

“the biggest thought going into it was, what are the repercussions if we don’t open River Springs? and the biggest one that stuck out to all of us was that we lose a safe supervised place for our community to swim,” licht said.

Youth sports also looked pretty different this year, according to Recreation Manager tim truelson. Summer and spring sports were pretty much wiped out, but sports returned in the fall. among the changes included sanitization of equipment before, during and after sessions and temperature checks.

“i didn’t think in my recreation career i would be mixing bleach solutions and taking temperatures of kids when they showed up for programs,” truelson said.

Kids were also placed into pods in which they stayed for the duration of the program to limit contact between other kids. tackle football was put on pause, and flag football took its place, truelson added.

Offering youth sports was important from a mental health standpoint, truelson said. Kids had not been in school, were not hanging out with friends and the Parks Department’s youth sporting programs enticed kids to get off their computers and get active, but in a safe way. Youth sports saw about 50% participation compared to prior years at the start of the summer, however by the fall, participation was up to 75%. although it was difficult for the department to see other organizations in the area cancel their events, they were determined to do what they could to continue to offer programs, despite the challenges. Sometimes that meant getting together through

Events the Owatonna Parks and Recreation Department hosted during the past year include: • Crazy hair contest • Self-guided Earth Day park cleanups • Drive-in movie • Parks passport program • Virtual Halloween costume contest • Candy cane hunt • Snowman building contest • Cardboard sled races

a box of egg decorating kits could be found in kaplan’s woods last april as a part of the owatonna Parks and recreation virtual egg hunt. each morning, the Parks and rec staff posted a clue of the easter bunny’s most recent hiding spot, encouraging the community to explore parks and trails while maintaining appropriate social distancing. (annie Granlund/People’s Press)

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Microsoft teams to brainstorm new and creative activity ideas.

“Our staff is very passionate about parks and recreation and we see the benefits ourselves of getting outdoors and getting in the parks and nature and how great that can be for yourself, not only physically, but also mentally too,” abrahams said. licht agrees that department staff are passionate about serving the community, adding that their leadership qualities have allowed them to rise to the occasion and provide the best opportunities to the public to explore the parks. in fact, Owatonna parks saw a significant influx of usage during the pandemic shut down as more people made it a point to get outside. in the face of pandemic, the Parks and Recreation team has come out stronger than before. they’ve learned not to quit early, and to use their creativity and flexibility to offer new versions of programming.

“it was really cool this year to see absolutely everyone step up to the plate to make sure that our community had something to do, so it was nice to see the team come together,” licht said.

When the pandemic subsides, parks staff plans to take the lessons learned during this time to change and grow for the better.

Reach reporter Ashley Rezachek at 507-4442376. ©Copyright 2021 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.

owatonna’s virtual egg hunt took place with the help of the Parks and recreation department’s Facebook page. Photo clues were posted over the course of a couple of days. (Photo courtesy of owatonna Parks and recreation)

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