Fargo Parks bringing the fun all year round

0:00The Outfield I love I love it. Josie's on a vacation far away and Josie and her vacation is not here for my birthday because today I get to on my birthday host afternoons live for Tyler Axiness who's out today on a fishing trip And I'm being carried through this whole thing by our producer Eric Johnson and so I'm super excited to continue on I you know, I full disclosure Just got reelected here this summer I've spent 20 years serving on the Fargo Park Board Spent 40 plus years of my life in Fargo and so I had a chance to not just utilize and and grow up in the in the park system But be a part of the the growth and the and man has there been growth in the last 20 years and and now For more so today. I am honored and privileged and lucky to be to be joined in studio By our executive director Susan Fauss. She she's gonna be talking to us a little bit about

1:04What's going on this summer and what and what and what and what we got going on coming up in the fall But first and foremost Susan holy smokes what what a beautiful day outside right now and what a beautiful summer We've had yeah Thanks Joe and thanks for having me on the show. It's always good to to be able to talk about all the great things going on in the Park district and with our team. So yeah, it is it's been gorgeous. It's been a warm summer Which has really helped with With golf with the success of our golf season and then certainly the success of of our pool season At you know the five outdoor pools we have and and today We had a great 60 plus adult 60 plus picnic at row farm that had great attendance Had lunch played some bingo and did some exercise classes You can't have a 60 plus event not have bingo involved right exactly exactly So so yeah, so as far as the summer you know, we've had one of the best golf seasons

2:05On record you know with the number of rounds. I think through the beginning of august We had completed over 11,000 rounds and you know again with the weather You know, we haven't had a lot of rain oats, you know It's been pretty dry and our teams have been doing a fantastic job with You know keeping those other areas is is irrigated as possible You know certainly have you know areas that are that are irrigated But it's been great and you know really thankful to the community that have have come out and really supported golf Yeah, well our golf courses are are so well placed throughout town I think Edgwood's up on the far north end of of the city the original Course, you know, and then you have L. Zagle. It's just down the block from that. He got periwood Immediately on the south side you got beautiful rose creek that the park district built 92 and then you got the you know The youngest one Osgood out there You know on the border of Fargo West Fargo and and just anytime you go to any of them The number of rounds that are being played out there is just insane right now

3:05Which is so good because it's it's so good for everybody's health to get out and enjoy the sun and enjoy people and stay off a social media and And off the television and whatever else that you know they're doing so yeah Yeah, yeah, you know the popularity of golf, you know after covid, you know in the industry We weren't really sure what we're what we were gonna see and it has just continued to grow You know year after year we continue to see you know more and more interests more youth that are getting involved in I think our community is so fortunate because we do have those five courses and we really have I think a course Designed for all abilities, you know We've got as you mentioned Edgwood and in rose creek for the 18 and and then we have L. Zagle You know, which is a great course for kind of that beginning golfer Someone who is just learning the game I used to I used to put my clubs on the back of my bike and ride a half a block over to L. Zagle when I was a little kid And yeah, it's a nice little chip putt course To work on to work on your skills and to like you said bring family and and young people and help him learn the game and

4:08Loved and appreciate it. Yeah, and for anyone who you know Hasn't already purchased a season pass. We do have our fall golf passes on sale right now We started selling him beginning of September So it isn't too late, you know fall is a beautiful time to to be out on the courses You know that starts to get just a little bit cooler You know, we have to adjust the times a little bit, but it's it's a beautiful time to as you pointed out just to be outdoors Get out get out get outside So how about our pools too aren't they I mean we have another one our pools are very strategically placed throughout Fargo too We have our north side one up on 19th Avenue. We go out the one down at Fargo South We've got the beautiful new island park pool with the flag time slide And everything else that we just put out and then obviously the dual water slide the Davies pool so yeah, yeah a great season for our pools Island park, you know, it's a second year since the the renovation of island park and we exceeded Attendance numbers Compared to till last year, so you know, we're continuing to see more and put more and more people

5:14Taking advantage of island park pool and and you're right, you know, we with the with the five pools there is a convenient Pool for for everyone in the area Just some fun statistics. Joe. How many What do you think was the most popular item that we sold at our all of our outdoor pools this year like at the concession stand? Yeah, at concessions. Wait, I Completely threw me off their ice cream. I mean, yeah, that's close. That's close So we sold over 16,000 beverages With sodas waters the different drinks Over 11,000 ice creams. Okay, and then the the next highest selling item is pizzas. Oh, yeah I didn't know guy could buy pizza at the pool now. I I got I got to get to the pool more often for lunch It sounds like yeah, yeah, no, so I mean, I think that too is enhanced in the last few years our food and beverage operation You know, we really been trying to to add better variety You know, just to give people some different options. So that's been that's been pretty successful for us But no, we couldn't be I'm more pleased with

6:16You know, I think with what we're hearing from the community especially about island park Yeah, well, it makes sense right people need to get hydrated when it's I mean we I can't count on my hand how many 90 plus days We had this year and growing up here. I could I could easily count in one hand how many 90 degree days we usually got in the summer So not just beautiful days without rain, but but warm warm days Yeah, you know, I think that the hardest thing about The outdoor pools is it's such a short season and you know, one thing that we hear often from community members is You know, just wanting the pools to stay open longer and you know Unfortunately for us it really comes down to staffing and you know most of our staff are either high school students or college students And we lose them so it's hard for for us to keep the the pools open as long as is the weather permits Right here. Yeah, and you've downsized the pools right you get down to island park and and Davies and and you continued on as long as you possibly can right because you're You're these are high school kids that are lifeguards And they and they have activities that they need to get to yeah, I mean, it's just a reality

7:20So so I appreciate the fact that we condense our lifeguards and bring them maybe over to pools They didn't work at during the year to to keep those two pools open as long as we can yeah Yeah, exactly and you know, we were able to keep Island Park open through through Labor Day and and we're going to continue to Kind of figure out ways that we can maybe hang on to some staff modify some hours Because again, you know September can be a pretty beautiful month here in Fargo Yeah, and we're listening to the to the you know to the citizens of Fargo too right? They didn't they didn't like the fact that we were shutting down in the middle of the day and opening another session afterwards So we adjust the times of the sessions. So you want to tell me was it's new and to what yeah to seven Yep, but you're right Joe. I mean, that's I think it's critical right for for us at the park district to be listening to To the community to find out what what people want. It's the only way that we know how to continue to make improvements So so people keep telling us keep telling us what you want yeah All right, well Susan. I appreciate you coming in and and I have what we got got lots more to dive into

8:26And so we're going to get after that after the break so but I will uh You're here in studio. So we're gonna we're gonna stay right here and get after it But right now we're gonna take a quick break my name is Joe Deutsch. This is afternoons live I'm here with Eric Johnson and we're filling in for Tyler Axnes Welcome back to afternoons live my name is Joe Deutsch. I'm filling in today for Tyler Axnes. I got Eric Johnson producing this thing for me and keeping me on the rails so I'm joined again here with Susan Fowles from the Fargo Park District. She's the executive director We talked about what when amazing summer we've had up to this point talking about the golf courses and and all the rounds that were played out there We talked about the pools and and the community getting out and doing that I also noticed that there's some some you know Park renovation so that we have going on right the new playgrounds that that have been being replaced because everybody always talks to me about Joe

9:29You grow and you grow and you grow and the city's getting bigger and you're putting all this brand new stuff out here But don't forget about the you know the what's in the inside don't let that donut effect You know happened to you and and obviously island park is a perfect example of us not allowing that to happen But but regardless so so we obviously you know as as playgrounds age We got different projects within those playgrounds we need to do to to think we talk about You know some of those projects that we that we're doing this summer because obviously this time of the year to get them done before winter comes Yeah, so you know maintaining what we have a Joe is is a priority to the park district You know we have to to make sure that we have that balance right of bringing in new amenities and then replacing what we have But no we're really excited we had the opportunity to replace three playgrounds this year We we replace playgrounds at Anderson Therelson baseball complex Point West Park and then on the Milwaukee Trail the the South Park and To what we're have really been focusing on is doing community engagement prior to

10:34Replacing those playgrounds to really find out what type of play features The community wants and I think we've been really successful and we've had some really good feedback from the community that has helped Kind of shape those decisions that we've been making and then we're actually worried working on replacing two playgrounds in 27 and we completed that engagement this fall The playgrounds that are going to be replaced in 27 will be the one two three park On the north side near Madison and then also can in park so Again, we had some some pretty good feedback from the community and you know with with these the particular engagements You know one thing that we're We're starting to to talk about based on some feedback from our park system master plan is you know if there are playgrounds They're really close to each other do we maybe start looking at some non-traditional options and so again Just getting really good feedback from the community I mean, I can test to

11:35Originally what we would do is we'd be replacing a playground that was already there we'd put The drawing together of what it is that we wanted And then the different companies tried to match it and we picked the person That you know that matched it to the best and here we're saying hey playground companies come up with different ideas right And then we're taking those ideas and and we're asking kids like what do you want to use? I mean they're they're the ones that are using these play features So we're actually putting the playground in the neighborhood that the neighborhood actually Said they were they were most interested in wanted Yeah, and it's just a great way again for for park staff to be able to to make connections with community members Yeah, I know you know, I I one of my favorite places to go is to mention earlier row farm Tony Schmidt who's been writing some grants You know for the park district he he was a part of putting in this new row farm Of a playground and with this farm came this big

12:35Big beautiful cow of which I'm not gonna lie and say I get on the swings or anything when I go there But I but I do get on that cow and get my picture taken. I mean, I just can't help myself Susan Yeah, you know, Tony joined The Fargo Park's team a few years ago and he has done such a great job in Getting grant dollars and bringing in different grant dollars for some of our different projects You know, we were able to to complete a couple park renovation projects Based on grants, you know, if we didn't have those dollars It would be definitely be a challenge for us to to make these improvements And in one of them is at lines conservancy park, you know, it's becoming more and more popular You know, we continue to hear from the community that they they love the nature parks and they you know They want to to feel like they're they're more so in the country and we received over a two hundred and forty thousand dollar grant Through the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department to be able to add a shelter and then to add two miles of That soft surface kind of gravel trails and and so far we've heard just great feedback from the from

13:39The people in the community. Awesome. So there people are getting out into that wilderness area and and exploring it since They've got a little bit of a trail to do that. Yeah, and you know, really the the the goal there was to try to Connect some of the trails so that the new trails will connect through to to iWin Park Just on that south side of 52nd. Yeah, I get Support all the time from CUNY members that that appreciate when a new development is coming in You know, we usually work with the developer to identify a land that they will dedicate to us putting a playground in before the development even goes in and And then connectability right getting those walk paths and bike paths Attached so that people can continue to to navigate their way around the community via walking biking You name it. Yeah, anything but the ebikes and e scooters absolutely. I That's a different stuff for a different day, but I but I want people to be careful when they're on those things. Yeah safety first

14:40Yeah, so so no, we're going to continue. You know, there's a couple projects that we're Then it's still going to be working on here before the weather changes. Okay. All right. Well while we're working on these projects before the weather changes We it doesn't mean that we stop putting on events at the park district, right? So there's got to be some awesome events coming up here in the next You know a couple weeks to a month. I'm guessing you want to share those with people so people can get out there and get to them falls in the air I know that much. It certainly is and in our events team a man our recreation teams are in full swing with some fall programming One of the most popular ones is fall and fargo and that event is held at Roe Farm Free admission to the community. It really is a family friendly Event and there's carriage rides and just different activities for kids That is on September 19th and 20th And then another one is the event. It's the lab and it's also at Roe Farm That's on Saturday, October 17th and that's a partnership

15:40It's a it's a new partnership that we're working with the Concordia Science Academy and the local American Chemical Society and it's really about kids being able to do hands-on experiments. So Something that again is newer to us, but we're excited It's kind of that middle school-aged kids just another example of the public private partnerships that we've delve into right The end of the day recreation all opportunities are for everything and everyone So anything we can do to work with other groups to create more of those awesome opportunities for the general public That we can so that's that's great So hopefully listeners can get out there and enjoy those You know by the wheel of pumpkins, I believe at the at the at the at the event and it's fall There's definitely pumpkins yeah in Roe Farms right over there on 25th street and almost 30 second avenues So anyway, I love the park district. I love talking about the park district Susan. Thank you so much For coming in here today and and talking to me about the park district and Well, I'm just a probably CEO on the golf course here shortly, right?

16:45Thanks, Jill. All right. Thank you very much for coming in Susan Fauss Executive director of the Fargo Park District Ladies and gentlemen, this is afternoons live I'm Joe Doich filling in for Tyler Axness Eric Johnson and I will be back with you after the top of the hour