More than a dozen local residents joined Dearing Mayor Sean Kelley for the first Events Committee meeting at the community center last week.
The session was an opportunity for community members to brainstorm ideas for local events to be held throughout the year and to hopefully spread the work of organizing those opportunities across a larger group of people.
“We’re trying to have activities in this town. Warrenton is a good example; they do something just about every month,” Kelley told the group. “We have good venues — the walking track, the community center. We’re not trying to raise money for anything, but to bring people to Dearing to see what a great community it is.”
Kelley said the intent is to maintain three existing events that have proven popular in the community — the Easter Egg Hunt in April, the National Night Out event in October (run by the McDuffie County Sheriff’s Department), and the Annual Tree Lighting in December. They also hope the scouts will continue their annual Trunk-or-Treat event in October.
To get the ball rolling, the mayor threw out several ideas for consideration by the group: movies on the lawn or in the gym, a drive-in with classic and other vehicles, an ice cream social, or some type of arts show. If possible, Kelley said he would want to keep events free to the public, so getting sponsors for some events might be necessary.
So far, the following events have been tentatively planned, although other than the egg hunt, National Night Out and tree lighting, they are not confirmed as the committee continues to discuss them:
February – Gardening class
March – Art show which may include a student art competition with prizes
May – Morning coffee cruise-in
Sep – Tractor cruise-in and hayrides
Oct – National Night Out & Trunk-or-Treat
Dec – Christmas tree lighting
Other ideas brainstormed by the group include a back-to-school bash, a covered dish, movies in the gym, and a food truck night.
The challenge, however, is ensuring that each event has someone to lead the effort to organize it and the support of others to make these events happen.
“We don’t want one person to do it all. If we can get one person to head up each event, that would be best,” he said. “If you want to see something done, now is your opportunity to come and be involved and come be the champion for what you want done.”
The first event on the upcoming calendar is the annual Easter Egg Hunt, with Toni Bowen agreeing to spearhead it by contacting all the area churches that typically participate. The event is currently scheduled for 2 pm on the afternoon of April 8.
Area residents are welcome to attend future meetings and participate in event planning.
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