Outreach Opportunities for the Environmental Policy Board

At the February meeting, Staff was asked to generate a list potential activities/events that the Board could consider participating in in lieu of the Environmental Expo.  Activities/events that present an opportunity for the Board to interact with the public and provide educational outreach include: Spring Business Expo, The Draw Summer Event Series, and Happy Days.  In addition to these opportunities, the Board may wish to consider promoting Arbor Day (and/or Earth Day) activities more in the future as well.  Each of these opportunities is reviewed in more depth below.

Spring Business Expo
The Spring Business Expo is an annual event sponsored by the City's Economic Development Authority (EDA).  It is held each spring, typically in mid to late April.  This event generally has about 300-500 attendees and has approximately fifty (50) booth spaces for exhibitors.  The City does have an area dedicated for City information, which could accommodate additional outreach materials from the Board and/or the Board could possibly consider reserving it's own booth for the event ($50.00 cost).  This year, the Business Expo is on April 18, runs from 9:00a.m. to 2:00p.m., and is held at the Fountains of Ramsey (across the street from the Municipal Center).

The Draw Summer Event Series
The Draw Summer Event Series takes place every Thursday evening, typically from June through August, at the The Draw park.  The event series is coordinated by the City of Ramsey Foundation and each event is generally sponsored by a local business.  The event time generally is 6:30-8:00p.m. and from about mid-July through August, a Farmers Market is also offered adjacent to The Draw amphitheater (3:00-7:00p.m.).  Attendance is usually 200-300 people or more and typically increases as the throughout the summer.  The City of Ramsey Foundation policy does permit a booth or table by the City for purposes of public engagement on matters of civic events or special projects.  Thus, the Board, if it so desired, could identify one evening this coming summer, to staff a booth/table to highlight or promote information on a relevant topic(s).  Note that this does not necessarily mean the distribution of materials/handouts, but could include use of a display board and/or various vertical banners (see attachment).

Happy Days
This event is generally held the Saturday after Labor Day and this year it is scheduled for September 12.  As the Board knows, the event includes both a Craft and Business Expo.  Additionally, the City has presence at the event as well (City booth).  City Staff has discussed the potential of expanding the City presence with a larger tent that could accommodate Staff as well as Boards/Commissions that may have an interest in promoting various topics/activities/projects.  Alternatively, the Board could consider registering for its own booth within the Craft or Business Expos at a cost of $25.00 (plus another $20.00 if electricity was desired).  Since vendor space is limited, Staff would recommend that, if the Board desires to continue its presence at Happy Days, it opt to locate in the City tent.  The Happy Days expos run from 12:00p.m. to 7:00p.m..

Arbor Day and/or Earth Day Programming
Another opportunity for the Board to interact with the public would be to consider getting involved again in Arbor Day programming and/or expanding this to include Earth Day activities as well.  The Board may wish to develop program activities such as a tree planting event (for Arbor Day) or clean up activities in parks, around public waters, or possibly even storm drain stenciling.  Arbor Day is always the last Friday of April and Earth Day is April 22.  Thus, activities could be developed to occur on possibly the last Saturday of April and/or could coincide (or occur just after) the Spring Business Expo.

No specific action is requested.  This information is being provided for discussion purposes only.