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Braving the evening high winds, around 60 San Juan Bautista residents gathered in Abbe Park on April 29 to play softball, wave bubble wands, listen to music, get orders from the Mattia Pizza and Hapa Bros food trucks, or just lean on the fence for a little casual conversation with neighbors.
They were attending the first of three Monday Night Lights events organized by Recreation Assistant Caitlin Brady of the newly formed San Juan Bautista Recreation Department. Previous outings included an evening of speed dating at Bear’s Hideaway in February, an open house at the city’s fire station in March, and an April 22 Earth Day gathering at the San Juan Bautista State Park.
“We are testing things out,” Brady said. “My goal for San Juan is to get people more connected with each other. I think there is already a huge foundation, but I want to foster it and bring in the newer people to the town.”
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Caitlin Brady. Photo by Robert Eliason.Brady was hired as one response to a series of focus groups, surveys and town hall meetings that the city held in 2022 and 2023 to learn from residents on what kinds of services they wanted.
“A lot of things were covered,” Brady said, “but the one thing that kept coming up was a desire for some kinds of community-building activities. I was brought on to make sure that happened.”
While standing in line for her Hapa chicken sandwich, Vice Mayor Leslie Jordan said she had been discussing the creation of a recreation department for some time.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1″ alt=”Hapa Bros at Monday Night Lights. Photo by Robert Eliason.” class=”wp-image-100571″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1176&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Photo-Apr-29-2024-5-12-52-PM-2-1024×768.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
“We got Caitlin on board,” she said, “and she turned out to be terrific. She’s got amazing ideas, and we are putting them into action. It’s just so cool. I think we are going to be seeing a lot more involvement and engagement.”
The Recreation Department has been initially budgeted for $45,000 a year, including Brady’s salary. Shes aid she has been encouraged by the response to the events she has held so far.
“Speed dating was a lot of fun, even though it rained,” she said. “We all had to huddle under the awnings at Bear’s, but everybody was such a good sport, and we ended up having a great time.”
According to Brady, over 200 people showed up at the fire station open house, and she had a similar turnout at the Earth Day celebration.
“We had Recology there and also hula dancers from Ha ‘ a Hula,” she said. “The kids all seemed to enjoy the activities.”
Resident Michael Ponce, who was leading a pick-up softball game, said he looked forward to the city developing similar activities for youth and seniors in the community.
“It’s a great way to get people together,” he said, “and we can have a great time just being neighbors out here. It’s their first time doing this event, but I think they will be able to get plenty of people coming out here in the future.”
In addition to the two upcoming Mondays at Abbe Park, Brady has scheduled five weeks of film, May Movie Madness, to be shown at Verutti Park starting May 3.
Brady said she is working with a small budget and, as a result, some events might be limited in scale, but the city is exploring grants and other funding sources to cover any of the more substantial expenses that come into play for things like screening films.
“Licensing can be prohibitively expensive,” she said. “We are trying to hold ticket sales down to 100 people so we can qualify for special pricing. The second you go over 100, the price almost doubles. It is something we are trying to work out.”
The cost for tickets for the movies had been initially set at $9. After some negative feedback from the community, City Manager Don Reynolds has decided to make the first month’s tickets available at no cost and will be considering how to price the event more affordably.
Brady has her own checklist of things she would like to accomplish, including a partnership with the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District for middle school and teen nights out and basic sports clinics. She also hopes to sponsor a bocce ball league, parent/child dances and senior health activities. But she has one goal set out just for herself.
“My personal point of success will be if I can open up a dog park,” she said. “It is a silly little goal, and it’s not my No. 1 project. But anything to get people out and together is worth doing.”
Monday Night Lights will be held two more times, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on May 6 and 13. May Movie Madness at Verutti Park begins May 3 at 7 p.m. and will run on Fridays through May 31. The movies include:
- May 3: Raiders of the Lost Ark
- May 10: The Incredibles
- May 17: Pirates of the Caribbean
- May 24: Hook
- May 31: Back to the Future
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