Nothing beats spending a summer day biking on a trail, playing in a park, or swimming in a refreshing pool.

During the summer months, we can’t get away from the outdoors. That’s why, as designated by the U.S. House of Representatives, Park and Recreation Month is being celebrated nationwide in the month of July.

Some Arizona cities that aren’t formally celebrating Park and Recreation month in July will instead be celebrating at a later time when the temperature cools down.

This year the National Recreation and Park Association has encouraged communities to show and share the love parks and recreation with a 2014 theme of “OUT is IN,” making this the year that people go outside, change their outlook, and get involved in their community through parks and recreation.

We love what Queen Creek is doing for Park and Recreation Month and hope other cities and towns follow suit.

Queen Creek opened the community’s first dog park and first splash pad to celebrate the special summer month.  The town recently held a grand opening celebration for Queen Creek’s Pocket Park for Pups, located at 22526 S. Ellsworth Road. The ribbon cutting ceremony for the 4,100-square-foot Splash Pad will take place at Founders Park, 22555 S. Ellsworth Road, at 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 5.

Queen Creek’s Mayor Gail Barney says these unique features will “help increase [Queen Creek’s] property values, expand the local tax base, increase tourism and the attraction and retention of businesses, greatly improve community healthy and reduce the amount of crime in Queen Creek.”

Is your city or town celebrating Park and Recreation Month in a momentous way? We want to hear about it! Be sure to leave a comment about what your city is doing, today!

For more details other activities Queen Creek is offering throughout the month of July, visit QueenCreek.org/Recreation

The city of Goodyear wants to see you move to the groove this 4th of July.

During its 9th annual Star Spangled 4th celebration, Goodyear is inviting the public to get on board and be part of The Largest Soul Train Dance.*

This will be Goodyear’s second attempt at a Guinness World Record. Last 4th of July, Goodyear was successful in their attempt to hold the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people wearing false mustaches. 

There were 1,957 people who wore a false mustache to set a record for the largest group wearing them, surpassing the previous record of 1,532 fake mustaches worn at the Gilda’s LaughFest held in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 7, 2013, according to Guinness World Records.

“We set an expectation by breaking a world record last year – we just had to attempt another one,” Debbie Diveney, business-operations supervisor of Goodyear Ballpark.

Image courtesy of The Huffington Post: http://huff.to/VnOyRg
This photo was taken at the Philadelphia World Record attempt.

Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 4, event organizers at the ballpark will start calling down people to begin lining up for the Soul Train. The Party Crashers will get the attempt underway with live music beginning at 7:30 p.m. Although there are expected to be several hundred people in the Soul Train dance, no more than two people can dance together along the Soul Train line.

The current record for the largest Soul Train dance is 291 people set by the Philadelphia Soul Train Line Dancers in Feb. 13, 2012 at the Art Museum in Philadelphia. The record took three and a half hours to complete.

“We believe we can smoke that record,” said Debbie Diveney, “Like last year’s Guinness World Record we set, this is one that involves group participation, which will be a lot of fun. We want everyone to be a part of the movement.”

Goodyear’s Star Spangled 4^th event, which averages about 15,000 attendees every year, is presented by Fry’s Food Stores and sponsored by Palm Valley Pediatric Dentistry, Dunn Orthodontics, West Valley Pediatric Dentistry, Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels, the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. Other activities include the Wet Zone and Fun Zone with inflatable slides and bouncers, corn hole and a free photo booth. Food vendors will also be present in various locations throughout the event. Fireworks will start after dark.

Gates for the event open at 6 p.m. and Goodyear Mayor Georgia Lord, who will be accompanied by City Council members, will kick off the countdown to fireworks.

Admission and parking are free. Additional parking is available at Desert Edge High School, on Yuma Road, west of Estrella Parkway. Shuttle service to and from Desert Edge High School will run from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

For more information, call (623) 882-3120 or visit www.goodyearbp.com

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*In case you forgot what a Soul Train Dance entails, this is the funky dance that requires those involved to form two lines with a space in the middle for dancers to strut their stuff and dance down the line in consecutive order.

It’s National Safety Month. To help kick off this month, Glendale is launching a campaign designed to reinforce safety messages during the summer. The campaign is called Operation: Safe Summer and it culminates with a public event at Westgate on June 20.

There are several departments that will offer programs and events to remind residents of their mission: to keep the city’s residents safe with an outstanding quality of life. These departments include the Police and Fire Departments, the Transportation Services Department and Parks, Recreation and Library Services.

With a dedicated website and logo, the campaign features a different safety message each week, covering timely summer topics such as kids out of school for the summer, children being home alone and out riding bicycles more often, heat-related issues, vacation and travel safety, BBQ and fireworks precautions, and of course, water and pool safety. Information will be distributed through public facilities in Glendale and at certain events, as well.

The public event will be held on June 20,  6:30-8:30 p.m., called “Surviving the Summer,” at Westgate Entertainment District, 6770 N. Sunrise Blvd. Held in the shopping center’s Fountain Park, this free event will feature a variety of agencies and vendors to educate residents on water and sun safety and much more.

For more information on the event and the Operation: Safe Summer campaign, including great tips and resources you can take advantage of, visit www.glendaleaz.com/safesummer.

The town of Prescott Valley Police Department is back on bikes.

At least some officers are. As part of the PVPD bike patrol, officers trade in their typical cruisers for bikes, part of the time.

The Prescott Valley program was originally started in 1997 by current Sergeants Scott Stebbins and Brandon Bonney. Stebbins started his stint as a bike patrol officer soon after he graduated from the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy in Prescott Valley. He patrolled in a vehicle for eight months and then joined the bike patrol.Stebbins said that while on a bike, officers are able to observe and react to things they may not see from their patrol cars.

It’s also easier to connect to the public, he said.

“The bikes are a great community policing tool to meet citizens,” Stebbins said. “When you’re on a bike, people come up and talk.”

The first PVPD bike patrol was active for almost two and half years until the economy and a growing Prescott Valley necessitated more officers on the streets in a patrol car. Those needs coupled with the recession kept the bikes garaged.

Officer Stebbins with his bike

Stebbins never lost his passion for the program. Eager to see the bike patrol continue, Stebbins recently obtained authorization for certified officers to carry their bikes on their patrol cars.  The department has certified 11 officers in bike patrol. Two of the officers, Stebbins and Officer Jason Lohman, have logged another 40 hours of advanced training.

These officers can park their car and ride in a patrol area. To maintain the ability to quickly respond to another incident if needed, they stay within a five minute ride back to their vehicle.

Police Chief Bryan Jarrell, who also is a trained police cyclist, voiced the value of the program.

“I have experienced the tremendous benefit to having police officers on bikes,” Jarrell said. “We saw police officers ride right up to people who were doing drug transactions and didn’t realize it was the police.”

Training for the bike patrol is grueling. Officers complete 40 hours of instruction on a broad range of skills and topics, including long ride physical endurance, obstacle courses with steps, curbs and seesaws, timed cone drills, shooting after a hard ride, using a bike to control suspects, and even traffic stops. Stebbins once made a DUI arrest after chasing down an admittedly slow moving impaired driver on his bike.

“It’s an effective tool and just one more approach we can rely on to serve this community the most efficient way possible,” Jarrell said.

The Town of Gilbert celebrates its 2014 Playful City USA status. Gilbert is one of four cities in AZ to receive the award eight consecutive times.

KaBOOM! recently announced its Playful City USA honorees: communities that are leaders in “playability,” the commitment to providing balanced and active play to children.

The KaBOOM! Playful City USA program honors cities, towns and communities across America that are taking bold steps to ensure that all children, especially the 16 million American kids living in poverty, have easy access to balanced and active play in their communities. 212 cities nationwide have been recognized this year, 12 of which are in Arizona.

Playful City USA honorees include major cities such as Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago. In Arizona, these honorees include cities and towns across the state. They range from eight-time honorees like Chandler, Gilbert, Tucson and Yuma, to first-time recipient Prescott Valley.

Tempe is once again recognized by KaBOOM! as a Playful City USA community for its commitment to keeping kids active through accessible playspaces and youth sports programs.

These Playful City USA communities are making a commitment to transform their communities to become more playable by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their community.

Playful City USA Honorees in Arizona: 

Buckeye
Casa Grande
Chandler
Coolidge
Gilbert
Maricopa
Mesa
Oro Valley
Prescott Valley
Tempe
Tucson
Yuma

To see the full list of the 212 communities named 2014 Playful City USA honorees, or for more information on the Playful City USA program, visit www.playfulcityusa.org.

The Tree City USA program is a national program that provides the framework for community forestry management for cities and towns across America.

Communities achieve Tree City USA status by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management. The first is maintaining a tree board or department, and the second is having a community tree ordinance. These communities must also spend at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and lastly, celebrate Arbor Day.

Participating communities have demonstrated a commitment to caring for and managing their public trees. Together the more than 3,400 Tree City USA communities serve as home to more than 135 million Americans.

Arizona’s very own City of Scottsdale has been a Tree City USA community for an impressive 32 years, the highest of all of Arizona’s other cities and towns. Pine-Top Lakeside, however, isn’t far behind at 29 years, with Phoenix following at 28 years. Congratulations to the Town of Patagonia, who just joined the list this past year.

To see a full list of Arizona cities and towns with Tree City USA designations, visit: http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/treecities.cfm?chosenstate=Arizona

This week is the 45^th Annual Municipal Clerks Week!

Municipal Clerks Week is a week-long event aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of municipal clerks and the vital services they provide for local government and the community.

Municipal Clerks Week has been sponsored by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks since 1969. In 1984 and in 1994, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, respectively, signed a proclamation officially declaring Municipal Clerks Week the first full week of May and recognizing the essential role municipal clerks play in local government.

City or town clerks have a variety of functions, including preparing agendas, taking minutes, maintaining ordinance and resolution files, keeping the city or town’s historical records, and processing permits. In addition to keeping records and maintaining the city’s documents, a clerk is responsible for administering local elections.

Municipal and Deputy Clerks’ main function is to serve as the council’s foundation. Other duties include, but are not limited to, preparing agendas, taking minutes, maintaining ordinance and resolutions files, keeping the municipality’s historical records, processing permits and serving as the clearinghouse for information about the local government. They also record the actions of the various commissions and committees appointed by the council. Many serve as financial officers or treasurers, and in small municipalities, may act as chief administrative officers. Another important responsibility is administering part or all of the local election functions.

Thank you, Arizona city and town clerks, for all that you do. You are some of the many reasons why Arizona Cities and Towns work!

The rapidly growing Town of Marana has launched an advertising campaign that highlights the quality of life its residents are offered.  From posters to videos, the completely “in house” production covers all that makes this charming community a truly special place to live.

Boasting everything from its scope of fun activity and impressive range of advanced economic opportunity, the launch remains overwhelmed with resident delight.

Impressively enough, “in house” producing included not only subject recruitment, but scheduling, photography, and even graphic design.

What makes Marana your town? Click the above video to see a variety of residents and even summer vacationers discussing their different, yet very pleasant, experiences of Marana living.

After reviewing 27 entries for the Mayor Select Art Spring Contest, Mayor Georgia Lord has announced the top three winners and honorable mentions.

The work of Kathryn Robinson, a junior at Verrado High School, won first place, garnering her $750 in scholarship money. Paola Vega-Soto’s piece placed second for an award of $500, and Estrella Foothills High School junior Duval Goley took third place for $250.

“Art in our schools is important,” Mayor Lord said. “We are striving to create public dialogue, advance education and inspire civic pride through the arts. It helps bring the community together. From all of these wonderful entries, it will be interesting to see who the next famous artist is. We’re impressed with the entries, and we look for this show to grow next year.”

The Goodyear Mayor Select Art Spring Contest was done in partnership with Mayor Lord and the Goodyear Arts and Culture Commission. The entries were judged by a panel of arts professionals, city staff, and members of the academic community. Judging criteria included originality, artistic quality, and composition.

Entrants receiving honorable mention in the show were: Humberto Ramos (Desert Edge High School) for Goodyear Storm; Kendall Bigman (Desert Edge High School) for Desert Sun; Kali Canedo (Estrella Foothills High School) for How it Feels; Adriana Ramos (Desert Edge High School) for Red Rose, Layla Sadek (Estrella Foothills High School) for Into the Wild, and Ashley Smith (Estrella Foothills High School) for Puzzled.

All of the art show’s placers will be recognized at the City Council meeting on May 12. The next contest is set to take place this fall, and “a call to artists” is expected to go out in late August. Art submitted for upcoming contests likely will be categorized such as in drawings and paintings, photography and 3-Dimensional.

Avondale Police Department’s Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) volunteer Sue Hills has been appointed as a Tester/Observer for Therapy Dogs Inc.  Sue is now an official representative and role model for the nationally recognized organization, and will be assisting therapy dogs and their owners in successfully completing the requirements to become registered Therapy Dog teams.

In addition to Sue’s expertise in animal welfare and pet ownership, she must be knowledgeable of the policies and procedures of TDInc, and possess impressive ability to deal with the public as well as reporting and disciplining teams.  One of the key requirements of the position is familiarity with current animal behavior trends and training techniques. As a T/O, she will not only determine appropriate testing process circumstances, but will be in constant interaction with a variety of dog breeds and sizes.

Sue and her therapy dog Warren have been active members of the Avondale Police Department’s VIPS Pets in Police Service (PIPS) program.  After adoption from an animal rescue shelter, became a therapy dog and will always have a place to call “home.”

The Avondale Police Department volunteer program provides a unique opportunity for citizens to enhance their knowledge, experience and skills in law enforcement in a variety of ways including the Pets in Police Service program.