Organizing an event in your park

Park events bring our communities to life. Not only do they build a great neighbourhood atmosphere and bring people together outdoors, park events also help people become more engaged and invested in their city parks.

This guide will help you take the necessary steps to host a fabulous event in the park.

Choose the objectives, theme, and format

When planning an event, it’s actually best to start at the end—ask yourself, what would a successful event achieve for our group? Would it attract new volunteers? Generate new donations for our work? Bring together new community members who haven’t accessed our park before?

With a clear sense of your objectives, you’ll be able to choose an event format that meets your goals.

For example, if attracting new neighbours is a goal, you may choose a free outdoor family night. If it’s recruiting new volunteers, a park clean-up activity may appeal to community-engaged candidates.

Regardless of the theme and format you choose, you’ll want to ensure that your event is accessible to everyone and sustainable for the environment. Read our guides on planning an accessible event and ensuring your activities are zero-waste before diving in deeper.

Plan and divide responsibilities

Depending on the size of your event, it may be helpful to form a small working group. Together, you can determine your work plan and divide responsibilities.

Consider how your working group can reflect multiple community interests. For larger events, you could invite local artists, staff from nearby nonprofits, or small business owners to contribute their perspectives and programming ideas. For smaller events, consider inviting your neighbours, local dog walkers, parents, youth, seniors and people who have the kind of skills you’ll need to make your event a success.

You can encourage more people to get involved in the group by:

• Advertising meetings through community centres and via social media.
• Scheduling meetings at a convenient time and location for everyone to participate. Send out polls or surveys to determine what best meets people’s needs.
• Compiling a list of jobs that can be handed over to community members who cannot attend working group meetings

After each meeting, send members the notes and any assigned tasks, and be sure to thank volunteers as they are giving their time to make the park event a great success!

Want more guidance on attracting and retaining volunteers? Read our handy guide.

Permits and insurance

Municipalities’ rules around permitting vary. In some areas, if you’re bringing more than 25 people together, you’ll need a permit and insurance. Food and live amplified music often require more complex permitting.

Consult with your local municipality to determine what permits and insurance you need, and what is and is not permitted in your park. Park permits can take 6 weeks to 4 months to secure, so be sure to plan ahead.

Create the budget

There are many potential costs associated with running an event:

• Permits and insurance
• Printing promotional materials
• Equipment for the day (AV, tent, table and chairs, etc.)
• Photography
• Decorations
• Sound equipment
• Food for volunteers
• When you’re creating your budget, be realistic and try not to underestimate your costs as there will likely be unexpected expenses. If things are getting pricey, ask around your networks to see if anyone can loan you items or services, or try approaching local businesses for donations.

Plan your promotions

When creating a promotional plan for your event, consider these questions:

• Who do you want to reach? Think about who those people are and where they’re most likely to see your promotional materials
• Could you attract media coverage via local newspapers or radio stations? Read our guide on generating media coverage for your local park group.
• How can you make the most of digital media like websites and social networks? Many park groups choose to use Facebook to create an event listing, post in local groups, and tag relevant partners. For more tips on making great social media content, read our guides on taking pictures and making Instagram and TikTok content, and don’t forget to tag Park People when you post!
• What free event listings in local newspapers and online platforms could you use to get your event promoted widely?

Don’t forget about neighbourhood signage boards and the word-of-mouth opportunities they generate. You may want to make a map of the following high-traffic spots to display your posters:

• Local schools
• High density apartment buildings or condominium towers
• Local cafés and businesses
• Community centres
• Libraries

Plan the event program

The most successful events have a detailed run-of-show, including all the activities that will happen before, during, and after the event. You’ll want to consider the following:

• How equipment and volunteers will get to the park, and whether cars will be required.
• How much time will be required to set everything up.
• Is there parking available? What about nearby public transit routes? Aim to choose a spot that’s accessible for all methods of transportation, and share this information in your promo materials. 
• Whether new wayfinding signage will be required to direct people to your event when they arrive at the park.
• What’ll you do in case of bad weather — will you postpone your event? If so, when will you make this decision, and how will you communicate it to attendees?
• Your plan for cleaning up after the event is finished (remember our zero-waste guide!)
• Do you have first aid on site? What’s the plan in case someone is hurt or injured?
• If recruitment is a goal for your group, what’s your plan to keep in touch with participants? For example, will you have an info table where people can subscribe to your newsletter?

Thank your volunteers

Park events are a lot of work, but many hands make the difference. To keep your team excited and engaged, make volunteer appreciation a core part of your event plan. You may want to head to a restaurant, a community centre, or someone’s house after your event to thank volunteers and members of the organizing committee.

Acknowledging and celebrating volunteers’ help will ensure that they sign on again in coming years. And besides, everyone needs to decompress—it’s time to trade stories about everything that happened!