Community Calendar Keeps County Informed of Events
RISON - While the community meetings that began over the summer were initially hosted by Rison Shine, the final meeting held Monday evening expanded more into an overall Kickstart Cleveland County mission focusing on events and recreation countywide.
Recapping the meeting for the latest episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast, Britt Talent is joined by Douglas Boultinghouse, an official with Rison Shine and director of the Rison in the Fall Festival; Malinda Berry, representing the Pioneer Village, and Roy Phillips, representing the Fair Association.
All four hosts are active volunteers in the three organizations mentioned, and more.
With the focus on events, the hosts explained the benefits of the Herald's new free newsletter - the Cleveland County Connection, which sends out weekly emails of upcoming events across the county.
The discussion highlighted the county's signature event, Rison in the Fall, which is continuing to grow. Boultinghous noted the momentum, stating, 'I think we are trucking along with this each year it gets a little bit bigger.'
He confirmed a strong vendor showing for the festival, noting there will be more vendors than ever before. "There are more food trucks, more vendors along the street," he said.
The group also discussed improvements to the County Fairgrounds, which recently had a record number of exhibitors. Moving forward, the Fair Board is exploring ways to add more activity, including potentially adding a parade back into the lineup and incorporating youth carnival games.
An idea for a major future event was proposed to boost the Fair's attendance and fundraising for Rison in the Fall: An entire day dedicated to a cooking competition, followed by a concert, followed by a rodeo. Additionally, there is a new focus on the rodeo arena, which has been basically just sitting there, not being used. Phillips said, 'I think our goal is to have more events in the arena all during the year.'
As the holidays approach, Rison will see many events over the coming weeks.
The Pioneer Village, in partnership with Rison Shine, is updating its annual Halloween offerings this year, shifting away from the traditional haunted house to an outdoor trail due to scheduling conflicts with the Junk Hunt. The new event, organized by Stephanie Reed, will feature a Haunted Trail and a Zombie Carnival. This experience will lead visitors through the village's historic buildings and out through the woods.
For those not wanting to be scared, the carnival will be a family-friendly section, including carnival games for little kids who want to have fun at Halloween but not everybody wants to be scared," said Berry.
During Monday's meeting, new ideas for events came up.
A major theme of the discussion was incorporating physical activity and fresh ideas across the entire county. One of those being three-on-three basketball tournaments.
Organizers are looking at series of outdoor three-on-three basketball tournaments held in public parks across the county in Rison, Kingsland, New Edinburg and Woodlawn. These could serve as fundraisers, allowing local fire departments or other organizations to benefit from entry fees and concession sales.
Other ideas included a drive-in movie night. Inspired by a suggestion from a young high school graduate, Daniel Rawls, the group is exploring making this a reality for special events. Potential venues include the Fairgrounds or Pioneer Village.
As these new events come to fruition along side already planned events, Talent encourages people to sign up for the newsletter to stay connected.
The New 'Cleveland County Connection' Newsletter The newsletter's core feature is a community calendar powered by Google that allows users to instantly add event reminders to their phones. 'The goal is to keep people in the know of what's going on. So that way they don't miss these meetings or events," Boultinghouse said.
Talent emphasized the dual purpose of the newsletter, not only for announcements but also as an open platform for all community groups. 'If you have an event coming up, let us know," he said.
The newsletter also includes local news briefs and obituaries and is sent Mondays and Fridays.
To sign up for the free newsletter, visit clevelandcountyherald.com and click the Cleveland County Connection ad to enter your email address.
In addition to using the calendar, Berry said she hopes to see more volunteers start contributing at events.
The full episode is streaming now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Herald's website.