Professional Awards Clifton E. French Distinguished Service Award: Paul Peanasky

By Bethani Gerhard, Minnesota Recreation and Park Association

The Clifton E. French Distinguished Service Award recipient for 2022 is Paul Peanasky, parks and recreation director for the City of Faribault. This award is the highest distinction presented to a person who has provided long and outstanding service to MRPA and the parks and recreation profession.

According to Peanasky, he fell into parks and recreation at a very young age. He participated in all types of recreation programs and facilities. He says, “Beginning at age nine, I was on my local swim team and then was asked to be an aid for the Red Cross swimming lessons. After several years teaching lessons, I became a lifeguard at age 15. I enjoyed this work and took several career tests pointing me in the direction of parks and recreation. My parents did not think this was a good field to get into so I went to college and received my degree in accounting. The entire time I went to school, I continued to work in the parks and recreation field as a seasonal employee. It was a very fulfilling way to spend my summers.”

After college, Peanasky explains he was searching for a full-time position in 1983. The City of Aberdeen, South Dakota was hiring an aquatic supervisor. “They needed someone to operate two outdoor pools and said they would train the candidate for the winter recreation responsibilities,” he states. “This sounded intriguing, so I applied. I realized I really enjoyed doing this type of work and it quickly became my career.”

After nine years, he moved to Ames, Iowa and was hired for another similar position for six years. “At that point, our family wanted to move to Minnesota,” states Peanasky. “I was hired as the parks and recreation director in Faribault. I also was the community education director for the school district for my first 12 years. After the separation I focused entirely on city business.”

Peanasky adds, “I have always belonged to state organizations. Shortly after moving to Minnesota in 1998, I found myself on MRPA’s aquatics committee. They were hosting their own conference and I assisted with running this conference. Since then, I have attend every state conference and numerous workshops.”

After a number of years he decided it was time to get more involved in MRPA. He served four years on the MRPA Board of Directors, as well as several subcommittees of the Board. “I have been on a number of conference committees when SMRPA was the host committee,” says Peanasky. “I have always encouraged my staff to be active, attend sessions and join committees. The professional organization is the glue that holds us all together. If it was not for MRPA we would not reach out to each other for advice as much as do since we would not know as many of our counterparts.”

He adds, “MRPA brings us together for educational sessions, socials and our conference. We get to know other communities so we can trade ideas and programs. The MRPA staff also keeps everyone abreast of ideas and legislation that affects all of us. I think very highly of the MRPA staff. For three staff, I am amazed at all that they do for the entire state.”

Congratulations again to Paul Peanasky for receiving this distinguished award, and for all his years of service to MRPA and the parks and recreation profession.

“I HAVE ALWAYS ENCOURAGED MY STAFF TO BE ACTIVE, ATTEND SESSIONS AND JOIN COMMITTEES. THE PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION IS THE GLUE THAT HOLDS US ALL TOGETHER. IF IT WAS NOT FOR MRPA WE WOULD NOT REACH OUT TO EACH OTHER FOR ADVICE AS MUCH AS DO SINCE WE WOULD NOT KNOW AS MANY OF OUR COUNTERPARTS.” - PAUL PEANASKY

By Bethani Gerhard, Minnesota Recreation and Park Association

Buffalo

The City of Buffalo provided safe opportunities for people to still be a part of the community during the pandemic. During the winter months in 2020-2021, Buffalo Parks and Recreation made a fat tire and snowshoe trail in an undeveloped piece of property for residents. The department also built a free sled library for their main sliding hill.

“We have seen a reduction of use for the fat tire bike and snowshoe trail; however the sled library has still been super popular,” says Lee Ryan, parks and recreation director for the City of Buffalo. “There has been a lot of snow this winter and people have been going sliding quite a bit. The sleds tend to disappear quickly, but residents replenish them periodically. I recently started labeling the sleds, so we’ll see if that helps keep them around.”

Moorhead

Moorhead Parks and Recreation focused on allowing their community to be active and outdoors during COVID-19. Moorhead become a hub for geocaching during the pandemic. The department worked closely with one of the Moorhead Parks and Recreation Board members, an avid ‘cacher’ that helped create three geocaching adventure labs. Although Moorhead Parks and Recreation no longer manages the adventures labs, a private company still offers geocaching and highlights the history of Fargo and Moorhead.

During the pandemic events were modified to allow social distancing. Moorhead Parks and Recreation hosted topic-based ski and snowshoe excursions, equipment demonstrations, and winter survival workshops.

“We still have plenty of outdoor winter recreation opportunities in the form of groomed trails, ski and snowshoe rentals, outdoor skating rinks and sledding hills,” says Josie Gereszek, recreation coordinator for Moorhead Parks and Recreation. “During Winter Trails Day, participants are able to try out cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and/or skishoeing at the trails within M.B. Johnson Park in Moorhead.”

New Brighton

In an effort to give families a fun and safe activity in the winter during the pandemic, New Brighton Parks and Recreation put together a “gnome hunt” at one of their city parks. “The gnome hunts are still really popular,” says Maria Larson, recreation supervisor for New Brighton Parks and Recreation. “We do a gnomesgiving hunt, a winter hunt, and a spring hunt. For each, the gnomes are hidden for about two weeks. We rotate around to different parks in New Brighton and usually hide 15 gnomes.”

The hunts are sponsored by Gnomes+More in Blaine. “They provide us with gnomes as well as gift cards for hunt winners,” says Larson. “Individuals can post a picture of their favorite gnome on Facebook with the #gnomesplusmore to be entered into a drawing for a gift card. It has been a really great partnership.”

“The consistency and creativity of our parks maintenance team is the key to the hunts,” adds Larson. “We give them the date, and they show up with zip ties, drills, and ladders to secure the gnomes,” says Larson. “They also go recover the gnomes at the end of the hunt, which is more challenging than you’d think, especially after a few winter snow storms.”

Northfield

During the spring and fall of 2020, Northfield Community Education held adventure races through their parks and various businesses. The City Park Adventure was started and finished any day in May 2020. Residents went on a quest to find coveted checkpoints and clues, leading to them to their final destination. City Park Adventure participants earned a free day pass to the outdoor pool, and the winning person or team of the race won a community services voucher to be used toward a future program. “Northfield Community Education has continued on with the City Park Adventure,” says Melissa Bernhard, recreation coordinator for Northfield Public Schools Community Education. City Park Adventure included surprise deviations from the park’s course where participants were asked to complete and record via smartphone a physical challenge before moving on. The first clue was unveiled in their registration confirmation email, sent directly after payment was complete. Clue one led participants to a Northfield park where a QR code was located on a half-sheet of laminated paper. After scanning the code, clue two was in a text message on their phone. Northfield Community Education looks forward to continuing to offer City Park Adventure in years to come.

Owatonna

Owatonna Parks and Recreation had many creative programs and events held during the pandemic. Three events created during the winter of 2020-2021 were Elf in the Park, Candy Cane Hunt, and Park & Rec Clue. Each event helped encourage the community to enjoy the outdoors during winter.

For the Elf in the Park program, staff would post “Timmy the Elf” sightings on the Owatonna Parks and Recreation Facebook page. Families would then post an “elfie” (selfie) of themselves at the location to be entered into a drawing for a prize.

“Although we no longer have Park & Rec Clue and the Candy Cane Hunt, we are still doing the Elf in the Park program,” says Danielle Licht, recreation supervisor for Owatonna Parks and Recreation. This program has been has held ever since it began during the pandemic year as a way to encourage people to enjoy the outdoors. Owatonna Parks and Recreation looks forward to continuing Elf in the Park during the winter months.

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St. Louis Park

In January of 2021, the City of St. Louis Park started their New Year’s Gnome Search program as a way to entice people to get outside during winter as their Bundled Up Winter Fun Day event had been canceled due to the pandemic. The city continued the event and held their last this past January.

St. Louis Park staff took a well known idea and extended it to be inclusive. Their four hidden gnomes are based off of historic figures or aspects of the city. Some of their gnomes were modified to make sure they were being inclusive of people that live in or visit St. Louis Park.

During the first four weeks in January, a different New Year’s gnome is placed in one of the city’s parks. Once a gnome is placed in a park, it remains there until the end of January. To help people locate the gnomes, the city gives out clues each Tuesday morning through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@stlouispark), and GovDelivery.

One of the city’s social media posts said “It is said that those who snap a photo with one of the New Year’s gnomes will have some of its good luck transferred to them! Share your photos with us through social media by posting them in the comments section of our weekly clue posts. Join in the hunt to find B. Robert, Dorothea, Oscar and Hank. Make sure to leave the gnome where it is at for others to find and share in the good luck!”

Wright County

During the winter of 2021, Wright County Parks and Recreation had to make some slight changes to how programs were run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They took out the speaking element and had six people registered every 15 minutes for their dog sledding event held in January of 2021.

“This winter we have returned to normal, having 25 people in each session,” says Carson Law, recreation specialist for Wright County Parks and Recreation. “Each session starts with a short presentation, then we load people into the sleds. We usually have two sleds running at a time. We had 125 paid participants attend this event.”

Carson adds, “Normally our Lantern Ski event is held twice during the winter, once in January and once In February. During the pandemic year, people had to pre-register for their ski rentals. Since then, we have returned to normal with firstcome, first-serve rentals. We usually get about 40 rentals and 200 people skiing during the event. This winter we held only one Lantern Ski in January and saw a massive uptick in use. We had 100 rentals and were completely sold out in the first 20 minutes. We estimate we had over 400 people skiing on the trails.”

In 2022, Wright County Parks and Recreation was able to lift all the restrictions at their nature center. “We found that the response to outdoor programs was continuing to climb,” says Law. “As a solution, we have now expanded our operations on the weekends to a full eight-hour day, and added a second site for winter equipment rental at Bertram Chain of Lakes Regional Park and Campground.”