By Scotty Elliott

Chronicle Contributor

Friday. Who doesn’t love Friday, right? For kids all around Bellefontaine, they had one more reason to love Friday over the summer, as the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District worked with generous organizations, donors and volunteers to put on events that brought the community together: Fridays in the Park.

Planning started back in February and evolved from there. What started originally as a pool party quickly grew to become much more epic.

“There were some logistical issues with doing all events at the pool, and I realized we have all these great parks right where the kids already are,” said Rick Reed, Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District superintendent.

And the public got it. Over the summer, kids went to eight different parks throughout the city for 11 different events.

“Bringing the people to the parks and the parks to the people” proved to be one of the program’s strengths, and one of the reasons it was truly special.

“Some of the kids were in awe that an event took place in the neighborhood park where they already played,” Rick said, “and many of them, like in Oakland Square, take pride in their park, some helping take care of it on their own.”

For some, the exposure to the variety of parks was a pleasant surprise.

“I didn’t even know there was a Myrtle Park, let alone where it was,” said Alisha Strayer, who took her young daughter Olivia to at least five events.

Some kids got to see each other out of school for the first time since summer started.

“They just saw each other and immediately started playing together,” Alisha added.

Although it was a difficult decision, Olivia finally narrowed her favorite activity down to the inflatable waterslides, a natural hit with the blazing weather during that time.

When the kids started playing together, that sometimes brought some of the parents together to socialize as well.

“It is easier to relax when you can see your kids are in a safe, engaging and fun environment,” said Dave Schweiterman. “They could let their guards down a little and enjoy the time themselves as well.”

It seemed others liked the idea of community gathering and service, as organizations and individuals came forth with ideas, funding, planning and service.

An active multi-event volunteer, Dave thought at first it was going to be difficult to find support, but quickly found out otherwise.

“It’s like there are all these people who feel a need to serve finally getting their opportunities.”

This turned out to have a huge positive impact for Rick, who was extremely grateful.

“I started off trying to handle all of this, and then the volunteers just came in, got their hands on the wheel, and started helping make great things happen.”

Some of the influx of volunteers came about through the efforts of Harwood, a grassroots organization sent by and funded through Honda to work with communities in several states to identify their local needs.

In this case, they collected data for an entire year. Harwood worked with Logan County United Way, which after their partnership and training now carries the torch as “Better Together.”

“Harwood and United Way saw that Fridays in the Park was filling in some gaps and opportunities identified by Harwood’s research,” said Jamie Morley, United Way community engagement director. This partnership then helped bring one of the larger Friday events to Blue Jacket.

Some of the events weren’t quite as big but had an obvious impact.

“These are the parks I could walk or ride a bike to as a kid,” said Jeff Stockton of Stocked Event Rentals, who, along with Legacy Property Group, sponsored Myrtle Park, “and I remember how important a meal was to some of these kids.”

Of course, it wasn’t just the kids who got pizza; everyone was invited to eat.

Throughout the summer, Fridays in the Park offered kids an impressive array of experiences: bounce houses, tie-dye shirt making, games, concerts, the Butterfly Garden, fireworks, an interactive science demonstration, arts and crafts, musical instruments to play, kickball and much more.

Dave noted some extra positive effects: “While these kids were being entertained and fed, I don’t think they realized how much they were learning.”

Of course, one of the major attractions was the food at every event, as these took place during general lunchtime.

“The one thing we wanted to be consistent with was having quality food for everyone,” the parks superintendent explained. “We were adamant that the goers get desirable, nutritious, satisfying meals.”

Before the events, volunteers would knock on doors of nearby homes to let residents know what was going on. Many of them would come out on their porches and yards to observe, with some even wandering over to the event themselves. Some of the observers across the street were treated to lunches delivered by the kids who volunteered to help others as well.

In some parks, volunteers put up flyers even further ahead of time.

“Events like this don’t come to Myrtle often, so they would be less likely to keep an eye out,” Jeff said. “We really wanted to make sure we gave as many opportunities as possible to participate.”

All these local events helped keep some families closer to home. Alisha, who is home with her children during the summers, was used to supplementing their activities outside of Bellefontaine with budget-friendly family events.

“We finally had something fun, free, and engaging right here in town,” Alisha said

gratefully, noting that their trips out of town were significantly curtailed over this summer. Her only regret was not finding out about these until mid-summer.

What started off as a plan to get kids off their devices, go outside and observe the real world turned out to be just what the kids needed… physical playtime and interaction with others.

“Sometimes kids who didn’t know each other at all gravitated and just started playing together,” Dave observed. “The diversity of these kids all being together in harmony having fun was a joy to watch.”

And if we thought this summer was great, Rick is rubbing his hands for the next one.

“There were all these ideas from volunteers by the end of the summer, but we ran out of Fridays!” he said. “We just scratched the surface; and with the way Fridays in the Park proved out, I’m excited for Bellefontaine next summer.”

So are we, Rick. So are we.

May 29 - Logan County Board of DD

Rutan Park

June 5 - Officer Doug Walters

Ratleff Park

June 12 - Lori Newman

Myrtle Park

June 19 - Mick Lile Auctioneer

Brown Park

June 26 - Harwood Initiative Youth Team

Blue Jacket Park

July 3 - Bellefontaine Fireworks

Blue Jacket Park

July 10 - Vineyard Christian Fellowship

Oakland Square

July 17 - Barb Hunt

Harmon Park

July 24 - Children of God

Rutan Park

July 31 - Butterfly Garden

Southview Park

Aug. 7 - Vineyard Christian Fellowship

Brown Park ■