City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: January 16, 2024
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report Current Activities
Recreation
• In the month of November, the Recreation Department concluded a 6-week pilot program of Zumba at the Park, a collaboration with the Blue Zones Project. The classes took place on Saturday Mornings at Central Park from 9-10AM. Our hope is to continue to provide programming for people of all ages in our community as part of our Healthy Community Initiative.
• For the month of December, the Recreation Department had a very busy month! We hosted our Annual Holiday Lights Event on Saturday December 2nd; this was the first year we included nonfood vendors in our event and in the end, we had a total of 15 vendors. The event included a performance by our Gonzales High School Marching Band, carnival games, face painting, letters to Santa, snow machines, raffles, and our tree lighting ceremony. A special thank you to our Public Works and Fire Department for assisting with the takedown and street closures.
AGENDA
ITEM
7 • In December, the Recreation Department also held our annual Holiday Lights Parade on Saturday December 9 at 6PM. Our route started at Canyon Creek Park and ended at Centennial Park. We had a grand total of 40 cars turn out. It was a blast and we loved seeing all the creative ways that cars were decorated.
• The City of Gonzales also received a donation of 48 jackets by the Knights of Colombus - Council 5140 to be given out to children in our community. We were able to identify children to give them to that could use them right before the Christmas holiday.
Kid Power
• Kid Power for November was full of fun. We did Day of the Dead masks and altars so the children could bring pictures of their lost family members and animals. We did a lot of arts and crafts that had to do with turkeys and ended with a nice Thanksgiving celebration by making the kids fries and chicken nuggets.
• We had three days of Fall camp, which were a blast. We took apart a pumpkin and learned all about what is on the inside and the names of all the parts of the pumpkin. Some of the kids tasted the pumpkin and loved it and most of them also tried the seeds and loved those as well. We also did a very fun team building activity where we put the kids into groups, and they traced one person in the group and had to design a scarecrow. Another team building game we did was to challenge the teams to make the tallest structure out of toothpicks and marshmallows. • When the kids came back from Fall break, the Kid Power After School Program hit the ground running. Their first project was to decorate the class Christmas trees for the contest. Each class had to vote on the theme for their tree and what they wanted to put on the tree. The first and second grade class were out to win; they picked Harry Potter, and they ended up taking first place in the contest! TK/Kinder’s tree theme was Home Alone New York. Fourth and Fifth grade chose Mario Brothers, and their tree came out amazing. Third grade’s theme was Space Jam – the kids loved watching the movie to get inspired as to what to put on their tree. On the last day of Kid Power After School the kids had a dance party with lots of goodies, and a special guest - the Grinch.
• Kid Power Winter camp was in full swing. We had two fun filled weeks. During our first week, kids made lots of ornaments and crafts to give their parents. We had lots of time to get creative due to the rain keeping us indoors. On our last day of week one we had a pajama party with pancakes and a movie. The Winter Camp program also received a visit from the Grinch. Thank you to Officer Perez for helping Kid Power catch the Grinch for us! On our last week of camp, we got ready to celebrate the New Year. We talked to the kids about goals for next year and what they learned from this past year. We did lots of crafts for them to take home and celebrate 2024.
Kid Power is looking forward to making more memories in the upcoming year and having blast! Gonzales Youth Council
Please find the Gonzales Youth Council’s 2023 Fall Term Report as Attachment 1.
Activities in the Planning Phase
• The City of Gonzales, in collaboration with The Blue Zones Project, is scheduled to begin Chair Yoga on Saturday, February 3rd at the Vosti Center from 9AM-10AM. • The Recreation Department has various events planned for 2024 calendar year some of which include: a Car Show in April, a Wine Festival in June, a Fall Festival in October, and our Annual Holiday Lights Event in December.
Attachments:
1. GYC Fall 2023 Report