Transcript - Cultural Institutions Face Demographic Crisis - Community Services Committee

Cultural Institutions Face Demographic Crisis - Community Services Committee - March 24, 2026

Good evening. I would like to call this meeting of the community services committee to order. Grimby is situated on treaty land. This land is steeped in the rich history of the first nations such as the Hadawand, the Hodnesoni and the Anesnab, including the Missagas of the Credit First Nation. There are many First Nation, Matei, and Inuit people from across Turtle Island that live and work in Niagara today. The regional municipality of Niagara and Grimby stands with all indigenous people, past and present, in promoting the wise stewardship of the lands on which we live. Are there any pecuniary or non-puniary interests to disclose? Okay, seeing none, before we approve the agenda, I would like to propose an amendment to consider item 7.2, 2 report DCS 2611 cultural services strategic plans phase 1 and two immediately following item 6.1 the delegation from Matthew Dawson of Studio Dawson regarding the cultural services strategic plans phases one and two. Can I get a mover and a seconder to approve the agenda as amended? Okay. Member Rubant and member um seconded by member Leairard resolved that the agenda for the March 24th, 2026 Community Services Committee meeting be approved as amended. All in favor? Okay. And that's carried. Can I get a mover and a seconder to receive the sorry the previous minutes? Uh moved by councelor DeFlavio, seconded by member uh Berbont. Okay. Resolve that the following minutes be received. Art Gallery Special Purpose Advisory Committee, February 19th, 2026. Community Services Committee, February 24th, 2026. Mayor's Youth Advisory Committee, March 3rd, 2026. Grimby Green Advisory Committee, March 12th, 2026. Age Friendly Advisory Committee, March 17th, 2026. All in favor? Okay. And that is carried. All right. So tonight we have a delegation from Matthew Dawson, Studio Dawson, regarding the cultural services strategic plans phases one and two. Matthew, please go ahead. Thank you and thanks for your time this evening. Again, uh it's Matthew Dawson from Studio Dawson and I'm here to present to you uh an interim report on the strategic plans for the Grimby Museum and the Grimby Public Art Gallery. And could you advance to the next slide, please? I said plans in the plural because we're actually working on a five-year strategic plan for the museum, a separate document which will be a five-year strategic plan for the public art gallery and a third document uh entitled cultural strategic considerations that is going to capture uh key findings that fall outside the remitt of the museum and the public art gallery, but things that are good for your consideration and future planning. Next slide, please. This is an interimm and update presentation capturing the first two of four phases of work. We've just completed the second phase and we are on track to complete the four-phase strategic plan by June 2026. Uh in the first phase of work, in the discovery phase, we undertook a background review of of data, an inventory review of the cultural assets of Grimby and a benchmarking study of of Ontario museums and uh art galleries in similar size jurisdictions. Um, this second phase has been an opportunity to now ask directly, ask the community directly, what do you want from your museum and art gallery? Um, and this is a report out if you will on what we have heard prior to us moving the through the engagement pro process prior to us moving forward into the development of the strategic plan itself. The feedback we have collected has been through a series of community and stakeholder workshops and a survey posted on the Let's Talk Grimsby website. So, a mix of in-person and virtual workshops were held during the week of the 23rd of February. uh 27 participants across five workshops um with through which we collected a wide range of uh of input from a wide spectrum of participants. Survey responses reinforce the feedback as you'll hear reinforce the feedback we gathered through the workshops. uh 44 respondents participated in the survey, fewer than anticipated. However, um I feel it did provide us with insights into what you will hear me call the the current core audience of the museum and art gallery, if not the audiences that you want to reach uh more broadly for in the future. Next slide, please. And one more slide, please. I'd like to walk you through six six key findings of what we heard with the first being a core committed audience. So this has come clear to us through the workshops and the survey. When we asked in the survey for instance, how do you know about us? How do you know about the museum and the public art gallery? uh a majority answered with one version or another of I've lived in Grimby my whole life and the museum in the public art gallery have been here for a while which is terrific but I think that's emblematic of what I would call that kind of core committed audience these are the people and this was this was reinforced through the workshops these are the people this is the cohort um who over the years you know enroll the kids in the programs attend the new exhibition openings answer surveys and participate in workshops and what is what we heard and what is clear is that level and longevity of commitment the legacy of the commitment and that is a core strength uh for the museum both the museum and the public art gallery going forward to and lastly I would say under core committed audience what I heard is you know this is the cohort that's accustomed to going to museums and public art galleries which is not everybody these are the group that put it on their to-do list. It's on their radar. They know what to expect and they enjoy it. Next slide, please. However, point number two. There are many others that we're not yet reaching. And I think we've heard that uh we've heard that through the workshop participants. We've heard that through the workshop participants, including one one person who said, to put it bluntly, we need to bring in people who've never been to a museum their whole life. And I think that encapsulates exactly that second point, which is there's a larger cohort of people out there yet to reach. In the workshops, what we heard is that the major refrigeration Peach King Center actually brings all sorts of new opportunities for reaching those new audiences. We heard ideas in the workshops about how the Peach King Center could provide a space for pop-up exhibits or showing what's playing in the museum on the digital screens or even simply just hosting events, hosting programs there in the Peach King Center. So people again who are not accustomed to going to the museum and art gallery are just aware of what is on offer and are therefore engaged. Next slide please. We heard in the workshops and the survey how appreciative that core audience is of the quality of the exhibitions and programs that are put on currently through the museum and the public art gallery. As someone said, I've enjoyed most exhibits at both locations. Those that stand out for me are focused on local talent with ties to Grimby and Niagara. And this I bring up because this is another connected emerging theme. How this audience appreciates especially local stories, but in in some the product is strong. The product that's being produced by the museum and the public art gallery is strong and the professional staff that's used that that creates the exhibitions and programs are in place. We heard that clearly. Next slide. You'll hear but but um we've already spoken about audiences we have not yet reached more from a marketing and a promotion standpoint. However, under item number four, we heard something else. We heard something else in the workshop that goes beyond marketing and promotion. We heard that we need to change actually to change to broaden the appeal. U one participant said we're not thinking about who we are not serving. And I think that encapsulates nicely that feeling like we have a strong basis but if we want to broaden the appeal we actually have to change. This can mean different things for the museum and for the art gallery but one commonality is about demographics. U the museum and the art gallery do run successful programs for children's programs the march the march break at other times. So, it's not that we don't have any youngsters going to the museum and the public art gallery, but that core audience, back to that core audience, your true fans, they are skewing older. Of the survey respondents, uh 3/4 reported that they lived in Grimby more than 10 years, which again that connects, that makes sense. They longtime residents, and 3/4 uh reported that they're 50 years or older in age. So I think that's painting a picture of who that core audience is and where we need to go demographically and otherwise to grow the audience. Next slide please. Partnerships and impact. We heard on multiple fronts how important important partnerships are to the museum and the art gallery. Partnerships defined broadly. You know, we heard ideas articulated about partnering with local schools, both bringing more school children to the museums on school tours, museum tours, but also outbound, bringing museum programs out to the schools to build on that critical partnership. We heard ideas about um having a presence, a greater presence at events that are already underway in Grimby, like grafting on raising the profile of the museum and the public art gallery without necessarily sponsoring events, uh but partnering in that regard. Um and we even heard ideas for more public private partnerships. ideas about, you know, for instance, searching for a corporate partner to try to forge like a multi-year partnership of some a co-branded signature event. A wide variety of ideas about raising the profile and the impact the museum and the art gallery can have in town. Next slide, please. And last, number six, um our last points about attendance and revenue. As one participant said, I think we need to think a little more commercially. So, we heard that too. I should say from the benchmarking just to level set, we know that the museum and the art gallery are already closely aligned with Ontario peers in terms of annual attendance. Um, we also know from the data that the museum itself is visitation is growing about 15% year-over-year for the past four years. the annual the visitation of the art gallery is holding steady. So both the museum and the art gallery are starting from a a good strong foundation but we did hear in the workshops that further growth in attendance is an important could be an important target firstly as a metric to just measure impact impact in the community and also as a way of increasing revenue. Uh the both both sites have a donation box and so increasing revenue is going to increase admission donations we believe. Um and lastly we also did hear ideas about increasing revenue in other other channels through event rentals especially perhaps maybe more so at the art gallery because of the building u and through potentially changes in the in the uh the retail operations. Next slide please. We will take all of these findings, all of what we have heard into our third phase of work, which includes our next steps. We're going to update the mission and vision and and and mandate statements for the museum and the art gallery and then move on to that into strategic planning, objective setting, and tasks to achieve the objectives with again a target completion date of June 2026. At this point, uh, my presentation is concluded. Um, I'd like to open up for comments, questions, and discussions. And thank you very much for your time. Oh, thank you for your presentation, Matthew. Uh, can I get a mover and a seconder to receive the presentation? Okay. Moved by councelor DeFlavio and seconded by member or sorry, u councelor Hal. And are there any questions uh or comments from the committee? Councelor, we'll go with councelor How. Go ahead. Thank you through you, Chair. Um can't Matthew there's not often I say positive things about this type of presentation from a consultant but um what you've done is you've put it in a very concise and clear way that for instance a person who like myself who is not you know that uh cultural I guess is a nice way of saying it um but allows me to understand what it is that you're, you know, that it's up against. I I think you've really phrased it well and and hit a lot hit upon a lot of things in in a real quick uh presentation. So, thank you very much for it. Okay, councelor DeFlavio. Thank you, Chairu. I I I agree. Uh lots of good information there. Uh the quote about we're not thinking about who we're not serving I think is a is a is a good one. Um, and it's a valid point and I think creating uh lifelong museum and art gallery people, you know, for lack of a better way of putting it, you know, like we, my family were always art gallery people. There are museum people. Creating those people in youth and middle-aged people uh is an important part in of sustaining those cultural buildings. Uh, we need volunteers in the future. We need people to to attend. We need all those things. So, I think that the next part of this needs to be how do we, you know, re-engage people or engage them for the first time. There are people out there that are itching to be that, you know. So, how do we get them to, you know, like I had teachers that that got me involved in things that that are the reason why I love art, for example. So, how do we get those how do we get the next generation of people involved so that that way 50 years from now they're the volunteers, you know, that are keeping the the art gallery and library going because we're not going to be around. So, that I think that engaging those people is important. Uh I think an important part of this is also part of goal setting is realistic and I think that there are people for whom the art gallery and museum will never be a place that they visit and we have to be realistic about that. And when I spoke to you online, I I said, you know, there are people that don't go to the that never go to the Peach King Center, but we fund the Peach King Center. There are people that never use a soccer field, but we pay for soccer field. So, it's important to know that we're not going to engage everybody in these places. But the people for whom the people that we can engage, we need to do our best to get them to and to and to bring them back sometimes because we lost a lot of people during CO uh you know volunteers especially places all over the province. I was on the Trillium review team back during COVID and uh every place was devastated by volunteers stepping away and re getting those getting new volunteers out and all those things are things I think that this plan will probably have to include. Um questions are I guess what are the measurable targets like is our goal to increase visitation is our goal to increase revenue I which I don't think is a a realistic goal honestly like I think that we subsidize these these things and we have to come to a realistic expectation about them making money and not making money. We're not you know a national museum. We're not a national gallery of art. We're a local gallery, so we need to keep our costs as low as possible and not ask for a lot when people come through the door. I think that that's I I don't think that we're ever going to generate a lot of money. If we can in the things that you mentioned like rentals and things like that, that's great. That's gravy. But we also need to be realistic about what we are and what we will ever be. So, um what So, do we are we going to set goals as far as attendance? Are we going to try and set goals for revenue because and are they going to be realistic um and participation you know like are we going to say we want to engage X population uh over this am number of years so over the next 5 years we want to see an increase in children from the age of 5 to 14 or is that the kind of detail that we're looking at in the next age or is that too much to ask for from the next stage? Yeah, if you wanted to answer that'd be great. Thank you. Yes, thank you for the comments and which I agree with all of them and let me let me try to answer uh a couple of the ones especially about the goal setting. Yes, to answer your question, that's exactly what we're going to be doing is setting those kind of measurable objectives and then tasks to to meet those. And you've you've touched on a couple that will definitely be on the table for discussion. um attendance is an easy one to measure and it's an easy one to benchmark against and it's I I would say it is a it is a good one to target because if nothing else it's a good measure of engagement and to your bigger point about we're providing a service here and we're funding a service that's true and so finding ways to measure the the level of engagement is a good way to to to measure and I think attendance would be one of those we will work our way into what an appropriate number is uh again we know the annual attendance for both the museum and about 5,000 for the museum per year and about 10 about twice that for the art gallery about 10,000. We know the size of the community. We know that those 5,000 aren't unique footfall. That's not 5,000 residents. It might be some subset that have gone multiple times. We'll do those kind of back of the envelope calculations and then come up with some reasonable measurable metrics on the on the earned income. I completely agree no museum makes enough money but big or small they all they all need funding and sponsorship of v various kinds but again as a measurement of engagement I think there are some things that are worth thinking about. Um the the donation I think is a great system and again it bears out on the benchmarking too, a great way for people to feel like they want to participate. But you're delivering incredible value, right? I I think so thinking of ways to communicate that value and then potentially increase that donate donation amount either per cap or total and then measure. But to answer your question, yes, that's what the next phase is about. that's coming up with those those metrics. One one other question chair through you. Um so we recently completed a tourism strategy through the town. We're doing um wayfinding uh signage with our in our uh public works department. We're talking about wayfinding signage. Um have you talked about have you looked at how those things integrate? you know, how the tourism strategy integrates with with what you're doing and how what the public works department's doing. Maybe what recreation is doing with the kinds of uh programming we offer for camps and things like that, you know, are all those things have all those things been considered or are they being considered in the in the next step like running a camp at the museum or which is probably something we already do, so if we do that, I apologize. Uh uh um but you know any of those things that that we can do to bring in a new crowd I guess. Yes. Um if you remember the diagram at the start I said there was three circles because the third circle does tackle things like that. This is this is the kind of the appendix to the two main strategic plans that captures gaps that are not being addressed within the cultural sphere or ways to better integrate with the rest of the community. So uh and yes the the the documents you referenced have been shared with me so I've got those and as we go forward yeah those are going to be some of the topics that we think about where do where do the boundaries where where do we start and stop in terms of the mandate for the museum and the mandate for the art gallery and where other partnerships and other things going on in town pick up will be part of that uh that third piece of work. One more. Sorry, through your chair. Uh, having been a camp counselor for many years, a long time ago, uh, I know that rainy day activities are always difficult to come up with. Um, so our staff might want to consider I know that it's hard to staff the museum and the art gallery for that, but having kind of a a rainy day lesson plan that you can run at the at the art gallery or at the museum that uses what's there uh or related activities is is always a good idea. So things to consider. But anyway, I thank you for getting the process started and thank you for all the information you provided. Uh, and as councelor, your presentation was briefer than my conversation, so I apologize. There any other questions? Okay, so I had a few comments. Um, I loved the idea uh with the Peach King Center and trying to draw in people. I think that's a great the pop-up idea was fabulous. Um, and many of us are local. Well, obviously local, but uh we've been here for a very long time. And that the nice thing about Grimby is there's a buy in. So when people come and they they live here, they set up roots. They are really invested when they start to become part of the community, they become invested in in our um our library and all all of the services, all of the events. Um, so we want to hook them and we do have an area, Grimsby on the Lake. Um, it's it's a newer area. Um it's a it's a newer area and there's a little bit of a disconnect from the rest of Grimby still and um I think it would be wonderful if we could start to um maybe reach out to them in some way to try to get that area um connected as well just because um there are there are more rentals there and people tend to you know move around a little bit more so they're not as rooted but it would be nice for them to to come and kind of sense what a lot of the rest of us are kind of doing, right? So, if we could somehow keep that in mind, that would be wonderful. But, uh, I thought this was a a wonderful report as well. Thank you. Okay. Did you want to expand on that? Just to quickly respond because it's not something I mentioned in my presentation, but in one of the conversations, we did talk about more recent arrivals to Grimby writ large. They may be more recent arrivals to Canada. And again, when you start thinking about new audiences to reach, you've pegged it geographically, but you could also think about it just in terms of time time in country or in Grimby. There is growth potential and and again to reach those people, we will have to do some different things. They, you know, they if they're not feeling connected as as connected to the rest of the town, then within the town, you've got the museum and the art gallery. it's even a further step to take but I think that will be again one of the topics for us to consider actioning and coming up with some objectives and some tasks provided we really identify that as one area that we'd like to to uh to move forward on. So thanks for your comment. That would be wonderful. Thank you. All right. Resolved that uh and thank you again for your presentation. Resolve that the delegation from Matthew Dawson, Studio Dawson, regarding the cultural services strategic plans phases one and two be received for information. All in favor? Okay. And that is carried. Thank you. All right. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get to report DCS 26? Oh, sorry. One second. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get report DCS 2611 cultural services strategic plans phase one and two on the floor for discussion? Okay. Moved by councelor DeFlavio seconded by uh member Leairard. All right. And who is Sarah? If you if you can take that on that'd be great. Thank you. Thanks through you chair. I'll keep it fairly brief. I think Matt covered it very well in the presentation, but just wanted to uh touch on a few things in the report. Uh I am really happy to say this is the first time that we've done these two strategic plans together. Um while they will exist separately and independently and that's partially because they both uh the art gallery and the museum have requirements to have strategic plans for some of their granting bodies. So it's being deliberately uh written independently for those reasons, but it is really great to see how closely they're working together uh and some of what's coming out of that. So, I think that's really great work. And just a reminder again, you'll see the final plan. We're aiming for June of this year. And other than that, I think it was well covered. So, I don't really have anything to add unless there's other questions or comments. Do we have any other questions or comments from the committee? No. All right. So, resolve that report DCS 2611 cultural services strategic plans phase 1 and two dated March 24th, 2026 be received for information. All in favor? Okay. And that is carried. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get report DCS 2610 Grimsby Museum Information Report March 2026 on the floor for discussion? Moved by member Ribant, seconded by councelor How and Sarah if you can take that please. Uh thanks uh through your chair just to cover a couple of quick things from Janet's report. She's not able to be with us this evening but they continue to progress with a variety of events that you will see in their report there. some great successes and I know March break was very busy for them as well. Uh the cipher decipher uh exhibition is going on and again I heard going very well. Lots of work has been done in the collections and they continue to have a really great team of volunteers that are supporting uh the work of the museum. Uh just scrolling through quickly the foundation repairs work is getting away uh underway hopefully this week. So, that will cause a little bit of disruption to the museum, but we're doing our best to keep the doors open as much as we can throughout that time frame. And uh that's about it. Any questions? I will try to answer them. I may have to refer them back to Janet. Are there any questions or comments? No. All right. Resolve that report DCS 2610 Grimsby Museum Information Report March 2026 dated March 24th, 2026 be received for information. All in favor? All right. And there are no consent reports. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get report DCS 2612 annual green initiatives report on the floor for discussion? Okay. Moved by member Leair, seconded by member Rayont and Jill, if you can please or Sarah if you want to take that over. Go ahead. Thanks for your chair. I'm just going to kick it off and then Jillian's going to walk you through the report. I just wanted to um cover the this is the first time we've done an annual green initiatives report and it is beyond just the department. It is corporatewide. That was a request that came through our green committee and as well as from a few counselors. So, we're happy to uh to bring that forward to you and and just wanted to highlight that it is uh from the entire corporation and Jill's done some tremendous work to gather all that uh data together. So, she's going to walk you through some of the highlights. Yeah. So, I just again want to thank all the town staff that helped develop this report. It was definitely a collaborative effort. And some of the exciting projects I would like to highlight is the town joining the Partners for Climate Protection Program, which helps us track our efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including the development of our greenhouse gas inventory, setting a reduction target, and the development of our climate action plan. Multiple projects have also been initiated to help improve the resilience of town infrastructure, including a shoreline inventory and assessment and sanitary system upgrades, as well as our natural assets through the improvement of our tree inventory, and the addition of around 900 trees to our urban canopy. We have hosted multiple public outreach events, including the green energy summit, a tree planting workshop, and CD Saturday. In addition, we are continuing to build strong partnerships with the MPCA, the Vineland Research Center, as well as some of our community groups like the Grand Oak Volunteers and the Grimby Garden Club. If you have any questions, I would be happy to try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. If not, I will take them back to the appropriate department. Do we have any questions or comments? Okay, I have a comment. Um, I think this is wonderful and I would love to see this as a communication piece if possible um through our town website. It'd be great. I don't know if you have a comment or Okay, if you could take that away, that'd be great. Thank you. All right. Uh, councelor How, sorry about that. I was off from someplace else. Um, through you chair the um Jillian um, excellent report. uh you've hit a couple real hot buttons for me is you know the way that uh I'm going to say that you must have broken a couple of arms and a couple of departments uh throughout this building but you know that that you can collaborate you can work together and come out with a a better package at the same time. Um, what what do you see going forward? And if that's maybe it I'll ask the director if that's May I ask that of Jillian because uh we've got to build something off of this report. There's uh a lot of people have been waiting quite a while to to see it. I think we've kind of heard about it a little bit and uh but you know just what what do you envision or or going forward? Yes. Through you chair. Um I think a big step moving forward is the development of our climate action plan. It really sets out some of the different departments responsibilities and some of these actionable items that we can do to reach a reduction target and help build some of our resilience in both our infrastructure and natural assets. And I think this document was a great way to kind of get that conversation started and be able to see what other departments are doing and some of the synergies that we have. Excellent. Thank you. All right. Uh resolve that report. DCS 2612 annual green initiatives report March 24th 2026 be received for information. All in favor? Okay. And that is carried. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get report DCS 2613 community services department information update March 2026 on the floor for discussion. Okay. moved by member uh or sorry councelor DeFlavio couldn't remember there for a second and moved by and seconded by uh member Lair Sarah please go ahead thank you through your chair couple of items to update you on we did receive a fragmitees grant project that we will be uh conducting in one of our parks lake lawn park which is over on the Winston Road area over by the oaks uh dog park so some good work that will um done there. And that um grant project is also going to help give us a bit of a jumping start for a invasive species program um that we're looking to also develop coming out of that. So that should be some great uh great work for us. The concession at major refrigeration peaching center, we will be posting that very shortly. Uh we will be doing it for a term of 3 years. Um looking to hopefully start at July 2026. uh we will be doing it a little differently than our traditional RFPs because we want to make sure we give good opportunity for our local community uh associations and organizations to bid on it. So we won't just we won't restrict it only through our traditional procurement measures. We will do it more on a community basis. The tennis clubhouse has been constructed. You can see an image of that uh in the report and we are looking forward to having that uh put in place in April. and all things so far look to align so that when they open their opening day on May the 2nd, the new clubhouse should be there at the major refrigeration peach king center along the west side wall where the residents are. We will be putting some fencing in there. It might not seem like a big update, but I mentioned it only because I do believe one or two of you have had uh conversations with those residents. So, I wanted to give you that update. That will be coming in the next month or two as well. A really big one for our team is getting the summer leisure guide out. Well, spring and summer leisure guide out and all the summer registration uh arranged. Fitness and general registration began on March the 18th. Our summer camps and aquatics will begin on March the 25th. And I do encourage you to take a look at the leisure guide if you haven't. There is a ton of information in there. So many wonderful programs that our teams worked really hard to pull together, including a variety of new programs. We have stuff in there of the art gallery of the museum. There's just a lot of really great information. So, please do take a a look through the the link that is provided. Our 55 plus active living club is also been growing quite a bit. You can see that as well in the leisure guide, but uh look for some of those updates that you can see as well. And we're also working right now on uh launching a new program where we're going to be offering standard first aid and CPR courses as well at the uh at the center. Not only will that give us an opportunity to train some of our staff and our students that come through uh through us as as employees, but also we'll be putting it out to the community. So, we're looking forward to launching that. For special events, the active living fair, I know some of you were there. Really tremendous turnout. Estimate about having 550 community residents come out on that day with a focus on residents who are 55 and over. And it was a really great way to see how the gymnasiums can be used for things like a vendor fair. And looking ahead, community safety day, which is always a really uh popular public event, is on Saturday, May the 9th at Southward Community Park. And that's all for my updates. Okay. Thank you. Uh councelor H. Okay. You chair. um the uh concession, you know, and I know that you've wrestled with this a number of times over the years. Have you had anybody coming forward asking what what we're doing? like is there any kind of tweaks of interest um at this point without even that would give us a bit of an indicator because you know the jungle telegraph would be probably working that you know there's a concession in there and they're going to need somebody but just it be nice it's I know you got your work cut out for you on this one so through the chair traditionally the last two terms at least the concession has been run by uh West Niagara Minor Hockey Association We do anticipate that they'll have some interest again to to consider operating it. I have heard of one or two others that may be interested to operate it as well. It's always just hard to see what exactly comes out. Um when you look at even when we toured different facilities when we were looking at the expansion of the teaching center, operating those concessions is really hard. They they don't you know some people think they make a ton of money. Unfortunately, they don't t typically. So they can be hard to fill, but we do think there might be a few good community partners that are are interested to operate it. One of the reasons we're going to build it as well on um instead of just like a hardline revenue will be a percentage of the gross revenue sales. And I think it just also gives us better opportunities of who might bid on it so that it's they can sort of manage those costs accordingly, right? Because it's just it's hard to say exactly what they will get in terms of the attendance. We do think though, judging by what we're seeing already at the facility, is I think the the case for the concession center only improves because we have more people coming through the building uh than we did before. So, I do think there is a really good opportunity for the right community organization or maybe a small business that's local is probably who this appeals the most to uh to make a good go of it. Uh, okay. Are there any other questions before I ask? Right. Uh my comment is to Sarah as well. I I would like to see us try to get as much as we can from this concession because like you said, I feel like there's there's so many people coming through it all the time. And if there's a time that we can really make use of that and get some profit to help, that would be a great time to do it. Um especially with the tournaments with basketball and hockey and all of those. So even with with some other vendors as well would be great. So yes, go ahead Sarah. So you chair if I can. It's again why we are doing the percentage of revenue is to try to maximize those opportunities. Traditionally the concession would be an evening and weekend type of operation as well and with tournaments and often not as much in the spring and summer if at all. Maybe on a really busy day when we had a lacrosse tournament. But because the building now exists quite differently and I think there's much more opportunity, we're really hoping that we might see someone come forward and try a bit of daytime and even, you know, all 12 months of the year. And I think by building it the way we've done that, we can maximize that, but also make sure that it's something that they can actually be successful with as well. Okay. All right. Can I get a mover? Uh actually uh resolved that report DCS 2613 community services department information update March 2026 dated March 24th 2026 be received for information. All in favor? Okay. And that's carried. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get report DCS 2614 community service uh uh community special events 2025 and 2026 review on the floor for discussion. Okay. Moved by uh member Rabont seconded by councelor how and Melissa if you could please go ahead through you chair. So, I think um we're just going to start by pulling up appendix A um and go through the presentation. I figured a visual representation was a little bit better to capture this type of review. All set. Okay. So, the community services department delivered a strong calendar of events in 2025 with reoccurring annual favorites as well as standalone events like the seniors club 60th anniversary celebration, a new Grimby on the lake event, and the international plowing match. Event programming over overall was very well attended and positively received across a broad range of interest um and age groups. Resident feedback was highly positive in both the quality and variety of offerings. I've highlighted each event with key takeaways, but in the interest of time, won't touch on all of them, but we'll highlight some main notes. Okay, next slide, please. Uh, next slide, please. So, early events, we had the mayor's levy, active living fair. Uh, next slide, and civic recognition. So this is a bianual event that took place. We recognized 26 citizens and community um groups were acknowledged. This had the first mayor's special achievement award presented um and was one of our one of three large events that we held in May. Um overall was very very well attended and wellreceived and and feedback was quite positive. Um it was nice to celebrate so many special members of the community. Next um also in May we had community safety day working in partnership with the fire department and with support from police um and different first responders. This continues to be a very popular event and um having it held at Southward is uh great because the youth use of the park and facilities up there tends to keep people staying longer. So, it's really great. Uh next slide. Also, in May, we celebrated the Grimby Senior Club 60th anniversary at the Livingston Activity Center. And even though weather was unfavorable, we still saw 250 people come out to celebrate this important milestone. Next slide. Um, it's happening in Grimby. Continues to be a large staple event. Next slide. In the summer, we host music nights and movie nights in the park. Um, they also continue to be um, well-loved by the community. They're smaller scale events, but um, people just love to come out. um something very casual with family and friends and enjoy it. One change we made last year is moving music nights in the park to July to take advantage of the daylight and push movie nights into August. So the sun sets earlier, we can start the movie earlier and that was really wellreceived. So um looking to continue to do that moving forward. Next slide. Um so we hosted our first Grimby on the lake event last year. We started with a smaller scale to gauge the infrastructure um parking and resident feedback. Um there was definitely a lot of interest in animating the space. Uh we had lots of free activities. Um given the scale of the park, it is very hard to animate everything all at once. Um it was cool to showcase the different areas. Um but for future consideration for 2026, a more centralized event in the main hub would be recommended and hosting um music and partnering with the Grimsby on the Lake businesses to do sort of a picnic whether it's takeaway or a din deal and encourage people to participate there as well as notifying residents in that area. um as well. Yeah, thank you. Uh we also had the international plowing match which was a really unique event and an opportunity for us to showcase Grimby um Grimby's heritage and roots and agriculture. Um we had hundreds of visitors come through daily um that were really excited and impressed by our our tent and offerings. We had a brochure created, uh, lots of signage that we can repurpose for future events as well. Um, a real tractor. Thank you, Janet. Um, and overall, it was just a really cool experience and great to represent Grimby in this way. Our fall events continue to be very popular as well with Moonlight Market. And next slide, Grimby Glows in partnership with Rotary. um 700 uh people plus for Moonlight Market and over a thousand for Grimby Glows even though it was on MLB playoffs day. Uh next slide. Uh Remembrance Day continues to be a meaningful community ceremony. Uh one thing that was noted last year was a consideration of live streaming the event. So that is something we will be looking to do for 2026. um to open up accessibility and and viewing options there. Uh our winter events, the town tree lighting and the Santa Claus parade, um also continue to be very popular, wellreceived, 15,000 spectators coming out. Um one of our most favorite community events. Yep. So overall, we delivered 22 more than 22 events with 20,000 attendees. That's not including the happening numbers with a full year of programming. Um attendance figures demonstrated sustained public engagement. Uh resident feedback is highly positive with our offerings. Our signature events continue to draw strong crowds while our smaller events supplement and offer uh unique and different experiences covering all demographics. So it's recommended that the core event schedule be largely maintained for 2026 preserving the programming that has been wellreceived with select adjustments and additions additions proposed. Next slide. Thank you. So the bulk of programming will maintain the same um adjustments and additions. So uh the mayor's new year levy and family day in 2025 were impacted by the major refrigeration peach king renovation. So we have since seen them return back to the facility with um record-breaking numbers and very very positively received. So that is um a change we will continue making forward. Cassa Shoreline Social having more centralized event as opposed to spreading it out across the park. Remembrance Day live streaming. This year we are welcoming back camp appreciation at the major refrigeration Peach King Center which will be great. And then as always continuing to explore new and different activations to keep things fresh and exciting. So looking ahead, we've had four events already in 2026. Um starting with the mayor's levy which established a refreshed interest in the space followed by the grand opening 1,500 plus people coming through um and just demonstrating the community's enthusiasm for this central hub um and having multiple activations in one space as well as family day which had 1,700 plus people um and a noticeable increase in demand for largecale multigenerational programming since opening the new facility. Next slide. We also hosted the active living fair at the major refrigeration Peach King Center this year which was great and um a wonderful way to see the gymnasium and spaces used this way and I think we will continue to program it here. uh community feedback was overwhelmingly positive with people really appreciating the social connection that they experienced from this event um along with information. So for our 2026 events calendar, um several of these events are organized by committees or in partnerships which adds an asset um and provides meaningful community input including the happening Grimsby Glows, Remembrance Day, and the Santa Claus parade. Uh these events that you see on this list and the following slides are further supplemented by additional events like spirits with spirits lunchons, true crime truck series, public and holiday skating and other smaller scale activations. Next slide please. The 2026 calendar events uh works within the special events program materials budget and revenue is expected to be supplemented by vendors vendor fees along with a ref refreshed community event sponsorship package to secure additional revenue. Next slide. And then in addition to delivering uh these townled events, we also support thirdparty community-led events. Uh last year we saw quite an increase of interest in hosting markets and socials at Coronation Park and this is now also happening with the new major refrigeration Peach King Center. There's a ton of buzz and interest. Um people are looking to host events large scale small scale at these facilities which is really exciting to see. Um so overall community demand demand for events remains strong and continues to grow and staff look forward to executing a comprehensive events calendar for the year. Next slide. Thank you so much and be happy to answer any questions. Okay. Do we have any questions or comments from the committee? All right. Um I just have a few comments. I think every time you do an event, it's funny because we always break records. It's like, you know, it just keeps getting better and better and better. So, it's you can never just relax. You know that you're going to get slammed. But the community loves it so much. Really, really loves it. And um and when when I I'm in the Peach King Center every day. Um and I listen all the time. Like before I come in, I will check out the gym and see what people are doing and kind of listen to their conversations a little bit. And people are thrilled. They are absolutely thrilled with the facility. They are thrilled with the buzz that's happening. So just keep doing what you're doing cuz it's wonderful and we all appreciate it. So, um, as far as the events, and I know I've I've said this before, I think we do, like I know you've done big events, but these little little bonding kind of events that we do are so important for our community, and we don't need to do everything. So, I'm just I'm just letting you know, for me as a counselor, I appreciate all of the all the things that you're doing. We don't need to have the fireworks and everything else. there are other municipalities that are doing it like Niagara Falls, like Lincoln. We can always send people there, right? So, we don't need to do it all. Let's just continue to do what we do really well. Um, and you're doing that. So, just my two cents. So, um, councelor Flavio, thank you, Chairu. I did want to mention that, you know, you mentioned the Grimsby on the Lake event and I attended it and uh besides being jealous that my kids were growing up because there were some great events there, uh I I thought that for the first time event that it was, it was incredibly well organized. There was a great variety of different activities. you did a really good job of animating all the different parts of the and I understand your idea about wanting to focus on one area, but I at the same time I think the way that it was the focusing on one area gives you more of a critical mass and I get that, but the way that you did it last year by putting things near the play structure like the art uh creation near the play structure and then the other stuff down in the big open space, I think it made people go use the whole park and walk the whole trail and see the park maybe for the first time. So I I would have said no notes actually just let let's try and and increase the the population but I and if you think that that changing it is is going to work better then I I respect your opinion. I just thought it was great already. So, uh, it it's not I I I was the kite activity was so cool. Like I I I mean, again, there were there were some really neat things and really, uh, out of the box kind of ideas that, uh, and I I also want to say that the face painter that you guys hire is phenomenal. Like I, again, I'm jealous because I'm used to like teenagers with drawing like a a butterfly on people's eyes and they're artists. like they're not I want to get my face painted, you know, like it's it's actually it they are talented people that are that that are that were hiring professionals that that and I tell them that every time. I like it's it's I'm always amazed at what they're able to create. Uh but yeah, keep up the great work. So, can we get a face painter for counselor to flap? That would be wonderful. Um, with just with the the music, I was just thinking about that. The the bands that you bring in for the music nights are wonderful, too. So, I I don't know there it's just such a great vibe. So, just keep doing that. That's wonderful. Okay. Uh, resolve the report. Oh, sorry. Councelor Christi's on as well. Go ahead, councelor Christi. Hi. Thank you. Um, I just wanted to actually touch on the music in the park as well. The bands are fantastic, but what I like about it is that you see every demographic in town attending that event together as a community and that it is no cost to the resident, so everybody can attend. So, I really do appreciate that event. The other one um I just want to mention is I'm really happy to hear about the live streaming for Remembrance Day. I think that's really important for our residents that aren't able to attend the ceremony. um especially some of our residents that may be in long-term care or retirement or in their homes and uh weather is not always great. So, I really appreciate that you've gone to the trouble to sort of figure that out and and happy to see that happen. So, thank you for that. Okay. uh resolve that report DCS 2614, community services or community special events 2025 and 2026 review dated March 24th, 2026 to get report DCS 2615 community services rates and fees. Yes, councelor. I I just realized there's gym rates on there and because I'm involved in basketball even though it's non pecuniary, I think I should declare a conflict. So noted. Thank you. Thank you. Can I get a mover and a seconder to get report DCS 2615 community services rates and fees 2026 schedule M update on the floor for discussion? Uh moved by uh member Bant, seconded by member Leairard and Sarah, please go ahead. Thank you through the chair. Uh this is a bit of a housekeeping item. We did all of our rates and fees back a couple of months ago and they have been largely implemented. The one thing we hadn't done was the sports fields uh rates primarily. Uh there is some additional work we need to do on those rates including uh relooking a little bit about how we do the allocation. So it's not just the rate, it has to do with more than just the rate. Uh we haven't had time to fully complete that and we do need to do some more engagement with some of our stakeholders. So we do want to put through um a rate adjustment of the 3% just to kind of maintain the pace uh while we continue to do that work which will bring forward further next year. We did also put in some filming rates. We do tend to get some filming requests and I look at Melissa because she's the the person who receives some of those and just trying to build in a little bit of structure there as well just an acknowledgement of some of the time that goes into those things. So both of those rates I think we will you we will be doing some further analysis as we keep going but we do need something in place for the upcoming season. Okay. Are there any questions or comments? No. Um, nothing from councelor Christi. All right. Resolved that report DCS 2615, community services rates and fees 2026 schedule M update dated March 24th, 2026 be received and one that the community services committee recommend that council approve the enclosed rate revisions. All in favor? Okay. And that's carried. There's no correspondence. Is there any other business related to the committee? Okay. Noah, do you have some business for us? Yeah. So, just in terms of the end of term uh reports and presentations that's gone around, I'm sure most people have heard of that and there was memo released a few months ago. Uh so the community services committee will be providing a brief end ofterm report for council uh which will note the committee's accomplishments and future opportunities from this term. The report will be compiled by staff using points provided by all of you. Uh this work will be done during committee meetings. No working groups or subcommittees will be permitted. Uh we will dedicate time on the April 28th and May 26th meeting agendas to brainstorm accomplishments and future opportunities. The report will be finalized ahead of the last meeting on June 23rd to allow time for committee review. The committee chair, councelor Sharwa, will pres will present the report during the chair's report at the council meeting on July 13th. Uh while other members are invited to attend in person or virtually if they wish to that meeting. I'd be happy to answer any questions if there are any. Are there any questions? All right. Um, the next meeting of the community services committee is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. And thank you everyone. The meeting is adjourned.

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