Okay so here’s how I finally got the Jack Mitchell Park seasonal calendar sorted. Been meaning to do this forever, right? Always heard about things happening there – concerts, kid stuff, maybe some flea markets – but finding out what exactly was happening and when felt like pulling teeth. Nobody seemed to have one central list.
Started With Just Showing Up
First thing Tuesday morning, grabbed my notebook and headed down to the park office. Figured someone there had to know the plan, even if it wasn’t officially posted anywhere yet. The office is this little brick hut near the big playground. Went inside and sure enough, Sue – the lady who usually runs the summer craft sessions? – was buried under stacks of flyers.
“Hey Sue,” I said, trying not to knock anything over. “Hoping you can help me out. Trying to find out what events are planned in the park this season? Is there one big list or something?”
Sue laughed, kind of tired but friendly. “Oh honey, wouldn’t that be nice? Wish we had that!” She waved at the chaos on her desk. “Got bits and pieces here… flyers just came in for the July concert series they’re setting up near the bandstand… Mike from Rec was just in handing me the sign-up sheets for the junior nature walks… let me think…”
The Scavenger Hunt Begins
Turns out, it truly was scattered. Sue started digging:
- Pulled a crumpled, penciled-in sheet from a drawer – “That’s the dates for the community gardens’ annual meet-up.”
- Found a bright orange flyer under her phone – “Oh! That’s the big charity dog walk fundraiser, end of August.”
- Rummaged and produced a laminated, slightly sticky page she tapped. “This is… ugh, sticky… this is the fixed schedule stuff – like the Sunday afternoon farmer’s market starts next week.”
- “And hang on…” she squinted at her bulletin board, pinned under other notices. “Yeah, there. That purple sheet? That’s the movie nights under the stars schedule June sent me last week.”
It was a total jumble. Sue gathered what she could find right then: a few flyers, a messy photocopy of her scrawled notes, and that laminated Sunday market page.
Operation: One Big Calendar
Said thanks a bunch to Sue and hauled my little treasure trove of park intel back home. Got my laptop fired up. Goal: Take all this random paper garbage and make one simple calendar anyone could glance at.
This was the grunt work part:
- First, laid every single scrap of paper out on the kitchen table.
- Started scribbling dates and event names in my notebook – “Movie Night: Super Adventure Thing”, “Farmer’s Market EVERY Sunday”, “Dog Walk Aug 28th, 10 AM”, etc.
- Then, opened up a simple spreadsheet. Made columns: Date, Event Name, Time (if known), Location in Park, and where the info came from (like “Sue’s List” or “Movie Flyer”).
- Started entering everything, one crumpled note at a time. Kept double-checking dates against a wall calendar – no point typing “June 45th”.
- Got stuck twice figuring out conflicting times scribbled on the same flyer for the concert series nights.
The Plan Came Together
Once everything was finally punched into the spreadsheet – took way longer than expected, honestly! – sorted it all by date. Suddenly, you could actually see the whole season laid out clearly. May kicked off with the first farmer’s market, summer ramped up with movies and concerts every couple of weeks, the garden thing tucked in July, then finally the big dog walk capping it off late August. It looked… coherent!
Printed out a clean copy on bright yellow paper – figured it’d catch people’s eyes if it was stuck up somewhere. Drove it right back down to Sue’s office this morning. Her face lit up like I’d brought her coffee. “This is AMAZING!” she said. “We can photocopy this and stick it everywhere – the kiosk, the rec center door, even the library. Finally!”
Made me smile all the way home. Funny how just spending a couple hours collecting scattered details can turn into something super useful for everyone. Already saw Sue had one pinned up next to the office door! Even saw a dad squinting at it holding his kid’s hand. Feels good.
