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Oakdale staff preview Eco Fair, seek wider outreach and kids activities
Summary
City staff told the Environmental Management Commission the inaugural Eco Fair is about three months away; commissioners discussed promotion, vendors, kids’ activities and logistics including signs and one food truck.
The Oakdale Environmental Management Commission heard an update on the city’s first formal Eco Fair, scheduled for April, and discussed outreach, vendor confirmations and family-friendly programming.
Hannah, community development staff liaison for the City of Oakdale, told commissioners the Eco Fair is roughly three months away and staff are “securing and finalizing vendors” and ramping up communications. She said the event has already been shared in the Oakdale Update newsletter and that the city plans to use social media and school-district family communications to promote it.
The commission discussed multiple outreach channels. One commissioner suggested using yard and road signs to direct people to the event, noting recreation staff in Oakdale use yard signs for farmers markets. Another asked that the local chamber of commerce, churches and the fire department be notified. Commissioners also raised reaching non-English radio and ethnic outlets, including Hmong and Somali radio, and public-service announcements as possible ways to reach communities that rely less on social media.
On programming, commissioners pressed for more children’s activities. One commissioner suggested repeated short composting demonstrations for kids and offered to present a simple “Composting 101 for kids” activity. Hannah said recreation staff will organize some kids’ activities and the commission will pursue partnerships with the library and county. She asked commissioners to flag any conflicts with the event date and to note if they will be unavailable to staff assignments.
Logistics questions included hours (staff confirmed 9 a.m.–1 p.m.), whether the fair will be indoors (it will be indoors; the food truck will be the only outdoor activity) and the number of food trucks (staff said they currently envision one food truck but did not rule out more). Commissioners acknowledged attendance is difficult to predict for a first-time event and that the number of food vendors should hinge on expected turnout.
Hannah asked commissioners to share communications ideas and volunteer availability; commissioners volunteered to help with outreach, flyer distribution and sign posting. She said flyers are being drafted and that the communications specialist will finalize them when back from maternity leave.
The commission closed the discussion by noting confirmed vendor commitments are coming in and that staff feel “pretty good” about the outlook roughly 9–10 weeks before the event.
