Kent mayor promotes State of the City, school visits and spring community programs

Mayor Dana Ralph used her weekly update to invite residents to the City of Kent's State of the City address and to highlight several spring community programs and events.

Ralph said the State of the City will be held on Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m. at the Kent East Hill Operations Center, which she called "Keyhawk," and encouraged residents to attend and to tour the new operations and maintenance facility on East Hill. "Hope you will join us, to hear us as we talk about some of the great accomplishments and hurdles that we, overcame in 2025," she said.

Ralph also recapped recent school visits for Read Across America. She said she read The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors at Horizon and Meridian elementaries and visited fourth graders at East Hill Elementary, where she discussed civics and local government and noted students will take a trip to the state Capitol. The mayor praised students' questions about how local government works.

The mayor highlighted upcoming volunteer and community programs: registration is open for the 2026 Green Kent event for park volunteer activities; the city's spring and summer parks guide has been mailed; a paint-only recycling event is scheduled at Hogan Park on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Kent's twelfth annual March of Diapers drive is collecting diaper donations at City Hall. "We've got a ton going on in the city," Ralph said, and she asked residents to drop off diaper packages at the City Hall lobby diaper corral through the end of the month.

Ralph closed the update by repeating the State of the City invitation and signing off until the next weekly update.