On Saturday, August 15, the field beside Signal Hill Community Centre had baskets on it again. Round two of free youth disc golf with Alberta Youth Disc Golf, two evening sessions at 6 and 7, ages 6 to 12, all equipment provided.

It was a small group. Smaller than the first round on August 1, which pulled about ten kids through two morning sessions. Mid-August is a hard weekend to catch a neighbourhood: half of Signal Hill is at the lake, the other half is buying school supplies, and an evening session competes with dinner.

So this is a short recap, and mostly a thank-you.

Thank you for coming out

Thank you to the families who showed up on a Saturday evening at the end of the summer. A small session is a good session for the kids in it, they get more coaching, more throws, and more time on the basket than they ever would in a crowd. Every kid who came got real instruction and real reps.

Thank you again to Alberta Youth Disc Golf and to Eric Anderson, their Executive Director, for bringing the coaches and the gear out a second time for us, and for doing it for free. AYDG is a non-profit run by people who just want more kids throwing discs, and they treated a quiet Saturday evening in Signal Hill exactly the same as a full one.

If you want to keep your kids playing, AYDG runs programs across the province: aydg.ca.

Being honest about the turnout

We would rather say this out loud than quietly stop running things. Two rounds of disc golf told us something useful: the format worked, the timing did not. Morning sessions filled better than evening ones, and the first weekend of a month beats the middle of August.

That is the kind of thing you only learn by running the event, and it is the reason we would rather try a small idea and get it wrong than run nothing at all. We will keep trying, with better timing.

The calendar is now empty. That is where you come in

The summer programme is done: Cleanup Day, the Parade of Garage Sales, Neighbour Day, Art in the Park, the volunteer work day, two rounds of disc golf, and the casino weekend that funds all of it. There is nothing on the calendar right now.

A blank calendar is the best time to ask what should go on it. Skate night, a seniors' coffee morning, movie night at the rink, a fall market, a repair café, a teen drop-in, a winter fire pit evening. We have a hall, a rink, two courts, a gazebo and a popcorn machine, and a board of volunteers who will run what people actually ask for.

Pitch an event on the homepage →

Ideas come from members, so we check the email against the membership list before the pitch reaches the board. If you are not a member yet, it is $20 a year, and that money is what pays for the events themselves.

If you would rather answer questions than write a pitch, the five-minute survey is still open, and the board reads every response.

See you at whatever you talk us into.