My family lives in a city where my husband says, “There is nothing to do here except go to Wal-Mart or eat.” This is very true as we have three Wal-Marts and an endless number of restaurants, but not much else by way of entertainment. It turns out that there are events happening in our town, but you just have to know where to look for them. Today’s experiment: Community Activities.
Community activities can provide you and yours with cheap entertainment and give you opportunities to make memories, even if your night isn’t the best ever.
FOR EXAMPLE. This past winter, our city hosted a free event where you could visit part of downtown that had been “transformed” into a street that might have been out of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This included live music, a live nativity, and a small petting zoo. Awesome, right? Totally. Except that the night they held it was so frigid that I thought my baby’s nose was going to fall off and we were too busy shivering to notice any of the beauty. We left early. But, boy howdy! Did we ever make a memory!
You may avoid activities and events in your community because you think, ‘There is no way my community could put on anything interesting.’ Or perhaps, ‘All the people in my town are weirdos.’ Well, Friends, my husband and I make those same comments, but often we are pleasantly surprised that our broad, sweeping generalities of this city and its people fall flat. Take it from us, you’ll at least make a memory.
So how do you get connected?
In our town, the newspaper as well as an online community page are the good resources. I periodically check our city’s webpage to see what new events will be happening in the month. I always mark them down on the calender, even if I’m not sure we’ll attend, so I remind myself that I have the option.
Keeping connected this way is a great way to have cheap entertainment. I will only take note of free or downright cheap events. Sure, there are some other events that look awesome that I might pass over, but I know that I don’t have to pay the big bucks to enjoy myself.
If your city has a public library, a college or university, a community center, a museum, or a nature center, check out those places to find out what will be happening at them within the next month or next semester. You would be surprised at how many free events are flying under your radar simply because you aren’t looking.
This month, I could have gone to a free Russian violinists’ concert or a free light show. I didn’t, but I could have. For free.
What are other informational hubs in your area? How do you find out about community activities?