Columbus Commons/Scioto Mile

1. Columbus Commons/Scioto Mile Team Awesome

2. September Events • Animal Day- 2nd to last weekend of September. This will be a day when local residents are invited to come to the park to bring their animals, walk them, socialize. Leashes would be required. Both parks would be opened for the walking of animals, animals of all varieties will be welcome. There already exists a World Animal Day on October 4th, and a World Stray Animal Day on April 4th, so we have other dates/weekends that could hold Animal Day. World Animal Day would propel the charitable contributions, help bring people to the event, and invite them to bring a large variety of different animals as pets.

3. September Events Last weekend of September, Beer/Wine tasting. Ohio is home to over 50 vineyards and breweries, and Columbus itself houses 9 breweries. This weekend would invite many of these alcohol producers into the green space of the Columbus Commons, and would have live music playing from the amphitheater. There could be a dedicated web page for the event, each sponsoring producer could have their own individual page on the site for whatever information they wish to include about their product. Locals can enjoy the wines on the green space, enjoying one another’s company and reflecting on the drinks

4. October Events • First 3 weekends would be host to Cultural and Diversity weekends. We would like to have a Hispanic Heritage weekend, in which we would welcome in Hispanic culture, foods, artwork, and any and all willing to celebrate such heritage. We would also like to have a LGBT weekend, and an Asian heritage weekend. We understand that LGBT month is in June, but we think that with the high population of open minded individuals in Columbus we still hope to have a high turn-out. These weekends could include a live show on the amphitheater, celebrating our different heritages. Traditional children’s stories could make for different and exciting performances. These weekends would be a large meeting place for children of various ethnic backgrounds, helping children understand that even though we come from different places, we can all play alongside one another

5. October Events - Halloween • Halloween would bring in a festive vibe to the air, and we would welcome and enhance this feeling with: • a 2 acre hay maze, pumpkin and Halloween inspired art and food vendors. Pumpkin spice food products, small tents and food stands set up on the surrounding grass area. We would also look to get vendors there to sell small-medium sized artwork, from glass work to beads to clothes. We would look to try to bring a similar feel and food to the area as The Pumpkin Show in Circleville. We would also try to use the top floor of the neighboring parking garage as a haunted "house,“ but due to the outdoor nature of the top floor, we would want to use a variety of mirrors to make the area seem larger and add to the surreal feeling of being in a haunted house on top of a garage in the middle of downtown. • On Halloween night we would want to have a corporate Trick-or-Treat, work to incorporate the surrounding businesses and have them hand out candy. We would have face painting kiosks set up in the green space, a costume contest on the stage, hay rides down the old brick roads of W. Town St. and W. Rich St, using the Scioto Mile as the connecting road for the loops.

6. November - Thanksgiving • Soup kitchen/food giveaway. This event would be open to the public. We would like to use the existing seating and we would like to devote an additional 3 acres to seating, tables, and walk space. We would use the other 6 acres for the actual providing of food. We would hope to draw a large volunteer workforce, hopefully from the surrounding high schools. All Central Catholic League schools (6) have an average service hour requirement of 100 hours to graduate. With the low estimated population of 5000 students in these combined schools, we could have a partnership with these schools to have a huge volunteer population for events such as this one. We would also ask for donations from local businesses and restaurants, so we could provide the most help and food possible to those in need. These donators would be recognized either through a ceremony, with pictures put up at the event, or with whatever recognition seems appropriate.

7. Winter Events • Ice art/holiday craft shows. With renting large commercial heaters, we could provide relatively warm tents and stands to sell traditional crafts and gifts. Children would be able to build traditional, cheap, products to take home or donate to sell for charity. We have also considered ice sculptures and ice art, such as slides and a castle. (Ice castles are surprisingly easy to make, they just make large blocks of ice, slightly melt the blocks on the edges, and stack them.) We could also have snow painting, offering spray bottles filled with food coloring mixed with water, and a variety of contests. There could be snowman building contests, snow painting contests, igloo building contests, etc. One such cheap, traditional, snowman children would be able to create

8. Winter Events Light show using the surrounding buildings. There are a variety of different buildings nearby, all with unique architecture and structure. Each building could have their own unique light patterns, and be synchronized with music. With the unveiling of the lights, we would like to include the lighting of a tree similar to New York City's, a large pine ornately decorated and lit with lights. We would of course have a Santa. The lighting of a tree helps inspire pride in a city, a unifying moment for everyone in Columbus

9. Winter Events • Super Bowl Party. This would include a chili cook off, wings, and a projector shooting the game on the side of a large nearby building. Also, the incorporation of the large heaters again. A chili cook-off will provide a high amount of heat, a sense of community and pride, and will appeal to a variety of people.

10. Spring Events • As the spring comes in the park will start to become more popular on its own again. However, we would like to host a car show, possibly have another Animal Day, and a corn hole tournament. The corn hole tournament could be used as a qualifier for the national tournament. We could also host night-corn hole using boards that light up similarly.

11. Spring Events Parent child wiffle ball game. This would draw local families for a fun competition, and a follow up event could be held at the Scioto Mile. The fountain can be used as a meeting place for children and families after the games. Fountain on display for children

12. Spring Events • Hosting a potluck family picnic or party for the surrounding neighborhood is also a good way to draw attention to the park as an important resource and can help strengthen social ties in your community. It's a great opportunity to pass out information about your group and to involve more people in your organization.