Metro East Sun

City of Edwardsville Recreation, Arts and Special Events Board met March 4

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

I. Meeting was called to order at 5:01 p.m. by Janet Haroian. The meeting was held in person at City Hall. Members in attendance at City Hall were Tanner Alexander, Josh Fark, Tony Green, Jeanette Mallon, Suzanne Weiss, and Lauren Szakielo.

Parks staff in attendance at City Hall included Nate Tingley, Amanda Prior-Alton, Grace Pellock, Steve Van Berckelaer, Lydia Bond, and Jeremy Dempsey.

Lt. Brandn Whittaker, Beth Browne, Brian Mulhall, Ryan Hentz, and Jesse Allen were also in attendance.

II. There were no public comments.

III. Minutes read from February meeting –

Jeanette Mallon motioned to approve the minutes as written, and Lauren Szakielo seconded the motion. The minutes were approved as written.

Events and Facilities Requests:

Beer Fest – Global Brew (Saturday, May 3):

Grace Pellock presented the Beer Fest special event application on behalf of Global Brew. There were no significant changes to the application from previous years.

Motion to approve (Weiss) Beer Fest, seconded (Green) and voted all ayes to forward to ACS.

Bonifest – St. Boniface Church (Friday, May 23-24):

Ryan Hentz presented the Bonifest special event application on behalf of St. Boniface Church. There were no significant changes to the application from previous years.

Motion to approve (Mallon) Bonifest, seconded (Fark) and voted all ayes to forward to ACS. 

Bonifest Run – St. Boniface Church (Saturday, May 24):

Ryan Hentz presented the Bonifest Run special event application on behalf of St.

Boniface Church. There were no significant changes to the application from previous years.

Motion to approve (Fark) Bonifest Run, seconded (Szakielo) and voted all ayes to forward to ACS.

Criterium – Edwardsville Rotary Club (Saturday, August 16):

Brian Mulhall presented the Criterium special event application on behalf of the Edwardsville Rotary Club. The changes to the application are as follows: the route has changed with races starting on South Buchanan, turning left on E. Vandalia St., turning left on South Main Street, turning left on East Schwarz St., and then left back onto Buchanan. They will now be using City Park to host live music, kid zone, and food/drinks.

They will also be bringing back night racing with the final two professional women’s and men’s races taking place after sunset.

Motion to approve (Weiss) Criterium, seconded (Mallon) and voted all ayes to forward to ACS.

Edwardsville Art Fair – Edwardsville Art Center (Saturday, September 26-28):

Beth Browne presented the Edwardsville Art Fair special event application on behalf of the Edwardsville Art Center. There were no significant changes to the application from previous years.

Motion to approve (Szakielo) Edwardsville Art Fair, seconded (Fark) and voted all ayes to forward to ACS.

Unity Fest – Edwardsville Unity (Saturday, September 27):

Jesse Allen presented the Unity Fest special event application on behalf of Edwardsville Unity. There were no significant changes to the application from previous years.

Motion to approve (Alexander) Unity Fest, seconded (Green) and voted all ayes to forward to ACS.

IV. Recreation Report

Jeremy Dempsey gave the Recreation Report. 

a) We’re in the middle of our adult basketball game season. The girls’ division has just started hosting games.

b) Our spring sports registration will be wrapping up in a month or so.

c) We’ve begun hosting practices and events for local teams/organizations at Plummer Family Park.

d) All staff training for our new hires and current team members will take place in the next two weeks.

e) Summer sports registration went live on March 1st. We will be hosting adult tennis lessons, adult sand volleyball, adult kickball, youth pickleball camp, NFL flag football, youth sand volleyball, and youth kickball.

f) Tournament season starts the weekend of March 21st.

g) We have 33 tournaments booked at Plummer for the 2025 season. These include baseball, softball, pickleball, 7v7 football, soccer, and our in-house sports events.

V. Program Report

Grace Pellock gave the Program Report.

a) We’re hosting our local Yoga instructor, Donna Bartley, at the Wildey Theatre on Tuesdays.

On average, about 20 people attend these classes.

b) Daddy Daughter Dance took place on Valentine’s Day weekend. We sold out Friday and Saturday (140 people each night) and had 131 people for Sunday night.

c) Our annual doggie Easter egg hunt, Paws in the Park, will take place on Saturday, April 19th. We’re currently working on recruiting vendors, sponsors, and goodie bag items for the event. Registration opened on February 28th.

d) We’ll be partnering with the Edwardsville Library for another summer kickoff. This event will take place on Thursday, May 29th.

e) We will have 62025 day this year on June 20th with a concert and community picnic.

f) We’re starting to prepare for Route 66 Festival. Applications for our marketplace vendors as well as our food/alcohol vendors are being distributed.

g) We’re finalizing other details like bands and movies for the summer as well. 

VI. Wildey Theatre Report

Amanda Prior-Alton gave the Wildey Theatre Report.

a) Some acts we had in February include: Blind Boys of Alabama, Daily & Vincent, and Sons of Cream.

b) The theatre hosted two weddings, three private parties, as well as the Daddy Daughter Dance.

c) The HVAC project is finishing up and we’re in the last few stages of that.

d) We repainted the stage floor last week.

e) We replaced the timer in the Marquee.

f) We also updated the ticket booth lighting.

g) We’re still hosting Tuesday night Yoga with Donna Bartley.

h) We have comedian Larry Reeb, and bands Head East, Angel, Michael Martin Murphy, and John Waite coming up.

i) We have two weddings and eight private parties in March.

j) We only have 12 Saturdays available for the rest of 2025.

k) We will be hosting the League of Women Voters Election Forum on March 12th as well as Edwardsville Unity’s Women’s History Month Celebration on March 21st .

VII. R.P. Lumber Center Report

Steve Van Berckelaer gave the R.P. Lumber Center Report.

a) The center’s current Learn to Skate session has a total of 83 participants enrolled. Classes begin on March 12th.

b) We will be hosting the MVCHA playoffs.

c) Rivers Edge Figure Skating Club and our Learn to Skate program will be partnering in a spring show called “Skating Under the Sea”. 

d) Skating Under the Sea will be on March 22nd.

e) We have a lot of requests for community room rentals for birthday parties, baby showers, etc.

f) We got a backup Zamboni.

g) Monday Night Men’s will be moving to RPLC.

VIII. Directors Report

Nate Tingley gave the Directors Report.

a) The dog park fence at Joe Glik Park has been replaced.

b) We partnered with the Nature Preserve Foundation to replace some of the boards and balance beams with boulders in the play area at the Watershed Nature Center.

c) Our horticulture coordinator and our parks superintendent have been looking over the landscape and irrigation plans for construction at Plummer Family Park.

d) The wall at the lower beach area at Leclaire Park needs to be replaced. We will also eventually replace the fence and redo some landscaping in that area.

e) We have wrapped up our staff evaluations.

f) We have also submitted budget proposals and will present them in front of the Finance committee in about a week and a half.

g) Phase 2 construction of PFP is coming along. We will have our first games on March 19th on the north two baseball diamonds.

h) The laborers have been putting up shelving at the new Parks shop. Fencing in the yard there will be happening soon. We’ve also been reallocating some of the trees that the former mayor planted and replanting them at various parks.

Haroian adjourned the meeting at 5:57 PM.

https://www.cityofedwardsville.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04012025-3684