Building a Community, One Event at a Time

According to Dictionary.com “community” is a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. 

I was recently asked if I would be interested in blogging for Patch. Being the Special Events Coordinator for the City of Bonney Lake, the opportunity sounded great. So here I am, ready to blog. I am waiting for the words to just fly out of my brain to my fingers onto the screen so everyone can read. Um, can someone please let my brain know it is now time to blog? 

I am getting excited for summer, like a kid in a candy store or one that just got a brand new shiny bike to show off to my friends. Summer is my time of the year, a chance for everyone to see what I have been working on all year long. Hopefully everyone will be having as much fun as I will this summer at all of the exciting upcoming events!

Over the course of the next 100 days, Bonney Lake will sponsor / host over 35 events. Some will be small, such as the Last Leaf production of “As You Like It” by Shakespeare, to our largest event of the summer - August 19-20 at .

will kick off the summer on June 25 at Allan Yorke Park, and then from July 4 to Labor Day, there will be a concert every Wednesday night at 6:30pm at Allan Yorke Park.  This summer we have expanded the Kids Club at Cedarview Park from Tuesday mornings at 11am to also include Monday evening performances at 6:30pm for working parents so more kids can attend! 

For those who are wanting a fitness challenge there are three fun runs to choose from this summer. How many will you attend this summer?

So I am going to write this blog with a two fold purpose; the first to be able to let you know what is going on both in Bonney Lake but in neighboring communities as well. 

For instance, during the month of July, you can attend a concert in the park on Monday and Wednesday in Bonney Lake, Thursdays in Puyallup and Fridays in Sumner (I will see what I can find for Tuesdays). 

The second will be to see what your ideas are about the events. Did you love them, or hate them, how can we make them better, or if you thought that was on the money.  The only way I can truly build our community one event at a time is to hear back from the community as to what event we should be working on next.

Additionally, I will probably make some comments about other local activities going on in the region.  One would think as an event planner I would stay away from events during my time off, but no, I go attend.  Often times to see what they are doing well that I can use and what they are doing not so well to make sure it doesn’t get used in Bonney Lake.

Until next time, from the mouth of Johnny Depp, “May the wind always be on your back and the sun upon your face and may the winds of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars.”

Be sure to check out the City of Bonney Lake website at www.citybonneylake.org/events  to find out what is going on in your community right now!