Town brings back Ice Cream in the Park

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore celebrated a project well done last Wednesday, offering free ice cream to folks passing through Kinsmen Park on July 6.

Geoff Person, manager of communications with the Town of Strathmore, said the Town had invested in the Lions Splash Park with a new rubberized coating, enhanced tree care, bathroom improvements and the newly paved parking lot and wished to draw attention to the improvement of those amenities.

“Today, we’ve got Ice Cream in the Park. The Town has invested a lot of money in making sure that the splash park and the parking lot and the trees in this end of Kinsmen Park are really well looked after and that they’re better investments for the town,” said Person. “Because all the work is now done, we wanted to celebrate the start of summer and invite people down for some games and activities and some free ice cream.”

Strathmore FCSS, Trellis, 5 for Life Early Childhood, and the Strathmore Wheatland Wellness Resource Project were each contributing partners to putting on the Town’s Ice Cream in the Park event. 

An event titled “Ice Cream In the Park” had been held in year’s past within Strathmore and surrounding communities through the coordination efforts of several different town service groups, although this is the first time the Town itself has put on the event of the same name, in conjunction with partners, to celebrate a completed project, to which Person added it certainly wont be the last.

“This is a brand-new event, it’s something that we’re trying to do more of when we finish projects so that people recognize the investment in the community,” explained Person. “This actually grew really organically, and we knew that we wanted to do something to kick off summer. At first, we were thinking popsicles or something, but Hunger Paynes has this brand-new ice cream truck, so we thought this would be a really good way to just showcase a new business that’s expanding in the community.”

Person did not suggest any sort of frequency in which the community may expect to see similar events take place, though did state the Town is dedicated to engaging with the surrounding community.

Person said a big theme of what Strathmore is trying to do with the events it plans to host, is to celebrate the community and its projects is getting people to reconnect.

“It’s just a really great kind of community event where everybody came together chipped in a little bit, and we’ve turned it into something kind of exciting,” said Person. “When a new playground opens, or when we do some work to repair a playground, what kind of little mini event can we do that helps to raise awareness in the community that that not only was that project completed, but that it was a valuable investment for the community”