Engagement Didn’t Stop
It became more important
By Scott Carpenter
Photos: Metroparks Toledo
It’s not unusual for Metroparks Toledo’s “Big Board,” a master list of announcements and events, to change as schedules and conditions evolve, but the 2020 edition could have been written on an Etch-a-Sketch.
A statewide quarantine during a global pandemic waylaid regular programming and scrambled plans for ribbon-cutting events for three new parks and a treehouse village, even as progress continued on those highly anticipated projects. What was routine at the beginning of the year—staying open, staying safe, and staying connected—took on new meaning in the park world by mid-March.
“I’ve always thought of my mission as special-events manager as bringing people together,” says Ruth Griffin. “With the pandemic clearing my entire year of planned events, I switched my mission to bringing people together without actually bringing them together.”
Getting Creative
During the statewide stay-at-home order, park visitation swelled by 60 percent in some weeks because parks were among the few places people could go. Park-services staff kept the 17 Metroparks neat and clean, and park rangers added “social distancing” to their patrol duties. Natural-resources staff and the roving construction crew kept projects moving forward. Administrative staff adjusted to working from home.
Staff members who would normally be leading night hikes or tree-climbing programs had to scrap those plans and adapt to a new, virtual environment. Videos, social media, and downloadable activities for families became the sole methods of service delivery.
“One of the most important ways we continued to engage with our audience was through our videos, Explorer Bags, and our Ask A Naturalist and Master Naturalist series,” says Shannon Hughes, strategic manager of park programming and interpretation. “We have also been doing trivia nights, book clubs, and virtual summer camps to keep in touch with our audiences. We continued to provide content seven days a week.”
Thousands of Explorer Bags containing a new activity each week, with all of the necessary supplies, were distributed through the Boys and Girls Club, Lucas County Children Services, and agencies that provided meals and other services to youth suddenly separated from their schools.
Resources for parents who were now homeschooling included scavenger hunts and video story times with naturalists. An outdoor-skills specialist read a children’s book while floating in a kayak. A day-camp coordinator made how-to videos about “upcycling” crafts. Naturalists interpreted the seasonal changes during a period that included a mid-April snowstorm and 90-degree days in May, as well as the region’s internationally known spring bird migration.
“We got creative and developed virtual events like Pack & Park and The Great Earth Day Birthday Bake Off,” Griffin says. “We included media partners and community partners to create as much online interaction as possible.”
Advocating For Public Safety
Along with educational and entertaining content were messages about public safety and the elevated importance of parks.
Early in the crisis, amid uncertainty and some pressure to close the parks, Metroparks aggressively advocated for staying open.
“As parks and public-health professionals, we recognize the essential role our Metroparks play in our community, perhaps now more than ever,” Executive Director Dave Zenk and Jonathon Ross, M.D., president of the Lucas County Board of Health, wrote in a joint editorial published in The Blade. “We ask members of our community to work with us to keep these treasured public places open as safe harbors while we all cope with the ongoing national emergency.”
On the day the editorial was published, the park district spokesman was on TV news and social media advocating for parks to stay open while advising the public to adhere to public-health guidelines. Safety messages about social distancing followed in the form of signs, social media posts—even chalk art on paved paths—some using a six-foot outline of Bigfoot for illustration.
As public-health officials urged the use of masks, Metroparks distributed 3,000 branded masks through Mobile Meals and a consortium of central city churches. The promotion drew both praise and criticism on social media as masks became a contentious issue, but the park district doubled down on the message, declaring the last Sunday in May Wear Your Mask to the Park Day.
Communication Was Critical
While connecting with the community during the ordeal was a high priority for the Metroparks team, communications among each other was critical.
Daily video-conference calls with the 11-member senior staff followed each day’s news conference by the governor. Nightly emails from the director informed the 232 members of the staff and board about the latest decisions and the reasons behind them.
“Everything was in constant flux,” says Matt Killam, chief of community outreach and experiences. “There were times that we didn’t have much to talk about, but we made sure that we made time to be together. That was Step 1. We kept to our core principles. Everything changed, but we discovered that we were the same.”
Scott Carpenter is director of public relations and spokesman for Metroparks Toledo.Reach him at Scott.Carpenter@Metroparkstoledo.com.