The Hamilton Parks Conservancy is focused on collaborating with the community to help energize and draw visitors to its programs
The Hamilton Parks Conservancy is a nonprofit that manages and maintains the parks in Hamilton. Director Steve Timmer has been with the organization since its creation in 2015 when it took over the management of the parks from the City.
In the intervening years, the Conservancy has retained a close collaboration with the City of Hamilton and other local entities, helping to promote efforts and events that bring visitors and vibrancy to the City.
“We help any group that calls us,” says Timmer. “We’ve worked with Operation Pumpkin, and we’ve helped with the Butler County Visitor’s Bureau’s Nightglow race and sculpture installations with the City of Sculpture. We try to work with groups across the board.”
He mentioned that within individual neighborhoods, the Parks Conservancy is a constant presence, maintaining and improving neighborhood playgrounds, splash pads, and natural areas. They also work with the City’s Resident Services Department as part of the concert series clean-up crew.
“We pull in crews after the concerts at RiversEdge,” he says. “By the next day at 10 a.m., it’s all looking great!”
The engaged neighbors throughout the 17 Strong neighborhoods have found ways to bring engaged citizens into the parks.
For instance, Robin Szary, a local art teacher began Art in the Park years ago, and over the years, it’s grown into a city-wide phenomenon.
“Art teachers from Hamilton City Schools volunteer their time to set up arts and crafts at different parks around the City,” says Timmer. “This past summer, they’d have five or six events at a time, and they were very well attended. The parks are in every neighborhood, which has worked out to be something very easy to do.”
When multiple 17 Strong neighborhood advocates put together movie nights in their neighborhood parks, City employees, 17 Strong board members, and the Parks Conservancy saw another opportunity to help neighbors grow more connected and engaged. They created a streamlined process to request to borrow a communally-owned movie screen and to get assistance from the Parks Conservancy team.
The Neighborhood Department and 17 Strong both help interested citizens to choose a film, get the appropriate license to show it, and organize any other aspects of the event, such as refreshments. While 2021 was the first full season of these events, they intend to make them even bigger and better next year.
Programming in the parks becomes even more powerful when local neighbors are inviting their friends and family members to participate, which is part of what makes the connections between the Parks Conservancy and 17 Strong even more valuable.
Timmer’s focus on collaboration has created other future plans. Miami Woods is managed, for instance, through a joint cooperative agreement with Butler County MetroParks, and they hope to eventually be able to create educational programming for kids and bring in naturalists to speak at the park.
Through all their efforts runs a common thread: a goal of making each park the right environment for the children, families, and friends who live, work, and play in those neighborhoods. Collaborations are a big part of that effort.
This story is a part of a collaboration between the Hamiltonian and City of Hamilton for their 2022 annual report. You can view the whole issue of this report here: https://issuu.com/1pridepub/docs/city_of_hamilton_annual_report_2022_9a17dd50f62e00