The details make all the difference
By Alyssa Shugayev, Charlie Hoffmann, and David Guida
Whether it’s an annual Super Bowl party, Thanksgiving, or even a wedding, special events truly are of monumental importance to us all. Some may look forward all year to hosting an annual New Year’s Eve party.
Professionally speaking, most park and recreation administrators are tasked with managing all types of special events throughout the year, including parades, concerts, festivals, and various ceremonies. Certainly, a great deal of effort, planning, time, and organization go into ensuring that events are a success and enjoyed by many others. So, did you ever stop and think why special events are so special?
The answer is simple and it clearly emphasizes the importance of what we do as professionals. Special events mean so much to the families that attend them. Residents and guests place the same high level of importance on the events that we produce as we, as individuals, place on our special days. In so many cases in every community, the events we work so diligently to implement have become a fabric of family traditions. So, our ability to diligently prepare is critical to the happiness of our community’s members.
Many parks and recreation professionals have organized events that showcase LBGTQ Pride. Some professionals may be truly excited about the opportunity to produce such a new event, while others may have hesitations or concerns. Twenty years ago, Pride events were conducted mainly in major cities or communities with a high number of LBGTQ residents. The trend for “average towns” to add Pride events to their yearly calendar is a new phenomenon—yet a growing one.
For some families, a free movie in the park on a summer night may be a child’s escape from being home all day or free ice skating may be the only access to this event that a child has. This emphasizes the importance that an event is more than for just one day—it is an experience that can shape an individual. Similarly, an event may be the only opportunity when some people feel they can be themselves surrounded by a community that accepts them. In the 2018 LGBTQ Youth Report, The Human Rights Campaign found that only 24 percent of the Youth can “definitively” be themselves as an LGBTQ person at home. For the other 76 percent, a Pride event may be the only place where they can be themselves.
While having concerns is justifiable, proper planning and awareness of the unique challenges will position you for a well-organized, well-implemented, and well-received special event. Here is a blueprint of some elements that worked (and did not work) for us.