With fall on the horizon, the Recreation and Parks Commission spent time at its Sept. 23 meeting reviewing past successful summer events and discussing those upcoming on the calendar. To start the meeting, Meena Janmohamed, the city’s emergency management manager, reviewed plans to test the outdoor warning systems on Sept. 29 and Oct. 17. The outdoor warning systems were installed to increase public safety, making announcements in English, Farsi and Spanish. While the system was primarily designed for wildlife safety, the hope is that it will be used for many disaster warnings. The commission noted that this would be one of the strategies used to promote public safety along with texts, calls and radio announcements.
Librarian Andy Leinbach discussed the success of the recent Summer Reading Club, which has experienced a 20% increase from previous years. The club celebrated over 287 participants who completed the program, ranging from middle and high school students to adults. The program encouraged participants to come to the library to complete reading logs in exchange for prizes such as a free book. Other features of the Summer Reading Club included a teen volunteer-led craft lab and a storytime led by Nami, the police dog, which boasted 103 attendees.
Next, Gloria Dimas, a recreational supervisor, reported on the 2023 16th Annual Senior Health Fair, which had over 300 attendees in its first year after a 3-year hiatus after the pandemic. The fair provides vital information about health and wellness through information booths and support from local organizations tailored toward senior care.
Sarah Scrimshaw, the venue supervisor of the Greystone Mansion, discussed hosting the Great Outdoors events, which attracted 700 attendees. She credited the success of the event to its free admission, which made it accessible to all members of the community. They also incorporated poetry into the event after an open call to the community for poems about nature.
“We put out an open call for poetry on the theme of nature, and we received over 75 submissions. We had a juried process to choose 10 that were printed and displayed, and tried to take advantage of some of the meditative aspects of Greystone,” she explained. In addition to self-directed activities like a scavenger hunt, Scrimshaw noted that the event included face painting and custom poems penned by West Hollywood Poet Laureate Brian Sonia Wallace, which were a favorite among attendees.
Afterward, Evan Doyle spoke about plans for the upcoming Doggy Daze on Nov. 3, which welcomes well-behaved, leashed dogs to participate in an all-day fun affair for pet enthusiasts, dogs and pet owners. “Anything involving pets always brings the community together,” noted Chairperson Amie Sherry. The family-friendly event will offer an old English sheepdog parade, a Disc Dog show and pet contests. “The English sheepdog parade comes to Doggy Daze pretty much every year, and they bring about 20 to 30 sheepdogs, and they do a cute parade to start the event,” explained Doyle. In addition, there will be vendors that offer pet supplies, treats and giveaways to lucky pet owners. Finally, there will be an adoption event where families will have the chance to adopt a rescue dog.
Next, Doyle also reviewed Picklefest, a flagship event for the Beverly Hills Farmers’ Market that highlights pickles as well as locally grown vegetables and fruits. The event included a craft table, face painter and petting zoo. The pickling contest included two categories: one for best pickle and another for pickling locally sourced vegetables. With help from a panel of judges, prizes were given out to pickles based on appearance, crispiness and flavor.
Looking forward to the fall season, Doyle notes that the community can look forward to Fall Funtastic on Oct. 27 and a Holiday Craft Fair on Dec. 8.
Finally, Michael Muse presented on the success of the pickleball pilot program and some improvements that were made in recent weeks. After some operational concerns of the pickleball courts, the commission has made extensive improvements. “There were requests for equipment rental, more pickleball classes, and more pickleball courts. Since that last meeting, we have progressed towards addressing some of those concerns. Most notably, we changed out all the nets on 12 pickleball courts,” explained Muse. They are also conducting a noise study on the pickleball courts after community members expressed concerns over noise.
